Harry Potter and the Lord of Time
by Captain Planet Apprentice
Summary: When Dumbledore places Harry with the Dursleys a mysterious man takes Harry away to train and learn how to with a well placed satsuma save the world from certain doom. AU
1. An Unearthly Child

A/N: I've started making a new story, but not to worry I'll still post the sequel to In Harry we Trust. I wanted to get some feedback on this story as well as to ask my reviewers what house they think Harry should end up in. Since this story starts off from the very beginning, I want to hear people's opinions on what house Harry should end up in if he was never raised by the Dursleys or experienced any of the hardships that he did before arriving at Hogwarts. Just leave a review with your selection and your reasoning for it; it doesn't even have to be one of the original four if you don't think he belongs there.

"Speak" – Normal speech

_Speak_ – Internal thoughts

/: _Speak _:/ - Magical languages translated

The Dursley family of number four Privet Drive always considered them to be perfectly normal; thank you very much; and they wanted to keep it that way. They, along with everyone else, had their own secrets that they didn't want anyone else to know about. One of their secrets was very vast and would probably shake the world to its core. Most people would normally believe this about this own secrets; however the Dursleys' really could change the world with their largest secret of all.

The powers of the universe, ironically, wanted the Dursleys to keep their secrets so on the night of November first 1981 when three people arrived on the street of Privet drive, the universe set into motion events that would change not only the Dursleys, but those of the rest of the world as well. These three people were not native, if anyone took a look at them.

The first was an older gentleman wearing an odd looking purple robe and a long white beard flowing down to his black buckle boots. He wore half-moon spectacles on his crooked nose that sparkled as he looked around the darkened street. The second person was an older woman possibly in her early fifties with lightly graying hair pulled back into a fierce bun on the top of her head. She wore a pointed hat on her head and rounded spectacles pushed low on her nose. She wore a long black cloak that kept out the cold as she sat on the low wall facing outwards towards the street and away from the house.

She looked up and stood as she greeted the strange man that approached her. They conversed in low tones for a moment before they were interrupted by the roaring of a motorbike. The large bike seemed to drop out of the sky and skirt up towards the curb of the house. This was the third person to arrive on the street.

The man that sat astride the motorbike was a large hulk of a man with a bushy black beard and hair that came down so that it was hard to see where one ended and the other began. As he pushed up the goggles around his forehead he hefted a small bundle of blankets form his lap and handed it down to the strange man. The man spoke briefly to those around him before moving towards the porch of number four.

The man laid the bundle of blankets down on the porch and then leaned down to kiss the forehead of the small baby that resided therein. He seemed to be speaking to the woman behind him for a moment and then placed an envelope on the top of the baby. As he turned to leave the large man was sobbing slightly and blubbering about leaving the baby behind.

None of them seemed to notice a fourth man watching their proceedings from the shadows down at the other end of the street. As he watched he waited for the man to disappear around the corner with a soft pop; he didn't even blink when the woman seemed to melt down into the form of a tabby cat, and the large giant shuffled off on the large motorbike the way that he had come happy to know that he had done his job.

As darkness once again fell across the houses of Privet Drive the man came out of the shadows and made his way across the perfectly manicured lawn of number four. He was wearing a long brown ankle-length coat with sandy hair, and a brown suit under the trench coat. The trainers made no noise in the soft grass of the lawn as he approached the porch. Slowly he bent down, plucking the note off the top of the baby and tossing it away. Another identical note appeared in his hand from the inner folds of his jacket and he laid it out on the bare porch next to the small bundle.

He cooed gently to the baby within before scooping it up being careful not to wake the baby. The baby turned over staring up at him with bright green eyes before turning over and going back to sleep as if to say that he trusted this man and knew that no harm was to come to him from the strange man. The man looked up and down the street before disappearing back into the darkness. The Dursley's secret was contained for now and upon discovery of the strange note the next morning, Petunia Dursley took the time to read it thoroughly before throwing it away.

_To Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,_

_I regret to inform you, however as of October 31__st__ 1981, your sister Lily Rose Evans-Potter, has been killed by a maniac known as Lord Voldemort._

_Her son, Harry James Potter, is well taken care of at this moment. Should you wish to contact your nephew, please address an envelope to him and he will receive them. He has been taken to a secure location and as such you were not to be disturbed or entangled with him._

_Simply know that he is taken care of and know that we offer our sorrow and support to your family in this time of crisis._

_Sincerely yours',_

_A Friend_

It can't be said that the Dursleys were heartless people, however Petunia had not spoken to her sister in years and was therefore not all that interested that her nephew might have come to her. She glossed over the fact that her sister was dead, shedding a handful of tears before turning back into the house and starting on her family's breakfast, already hearing her toddler screaming in his crib to be let out.

XoXoXo

The large circular room heaved and shuddered suddenly as if struck by a large object. In the center of the room was a circular console that was topped by a large three fingered column of light that slowly moved up and down. A groaning/wheezing sound could be heard deep under the grated floor, but didn't seem to make any difference to those that were in the room.

Two figures rushed around the large central console flipping switches and pulling knobs. The first was an older looking man sometime in his early thirties with sandy brown hair and wearing a long brown coat with a brown suit on underneath. As he moved quickly out of the way a young boy came around the corner of the console carrying a bundle of wires; he looked to be close to eleven in age with long jet black hair that fell over his eyes slightly and was slicked back as well as striking green eyes.

The boy was dressed in a similar trench coat with a white shirt and brown slacks on underneath, his scraggly black hair long enough to cover the distinctive scar on the top of his forehead. Dropping expertly down a hole in the grate floor the boy carried the wires with him and started to reattach them seemingly at random, but knowing what he was doing.

"How many times do I have to tell you, do not flirt with the native girls?" The man called down through the grate as he hopped over it to hit a few more switches.

"I was not flirting, and you know that. I just asked what was for dinner." The boy's head popped up for a moment before disappearing back down into it. A green light could be seen and a soft whistling before his voice came back out. "Try it now, should be repaired."

"I told you before not to ask a cannibal what's for dinner, especially one with three sets of teeth." The man pulled a long cord that appeared to have once been attached to the back of a talking doll, letting it roll back into the console. "There, that should do it." The room shuddered slightly so he hit the console with a rubber mallet and the room seemed to settle down.

Harry Potter, small nearly eleven year old boy, popped up from the grate and looked around the still stabilizing room, but it didn't seem to rock back and forth anymore and for that he was thankful. Wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of the sleeve on the trench coat he pulled himself out of the hole and sat on the edge of it. Panting slightly he looked up at the controls that glowed around the top of the circular console before him.

"Where exactly are we?" He said as he wiped more sweat from his forehead and slid off the brown trench coat around his shoulders. One his right ring finger was a small gold band that encircled his finger.

"London, Earth, The Solar System. We're back in the 20th century because you, young man, have to go to school." The man leaned on the railing around the main circular piece of the room and looked down at Harry on the floor.

"School? I thought we took care of that?"

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun."

"Need I remind you what happened the last time you said that."

"Oi, that wasn't my fault, and you know it." He smiled and muttered. "Cheeky little bugger."

"Hey, you raised me." Harry pulled himself out of the hole completely and moved towards the large wooden doors that stood at the end of a walkway. Pushing them open made a large shaft of sunlight appear through the open doors.

Stepping out into the morning sunlight Harry could tell that they had landed in a slightly seedier part of London somewhere downtown that he wasn't really sure where. Taking in his surroundings as the man came out of the doors and locked them tight with a strange looking key. Patting the wooden doors almost lovingly the man looked around and then scanned the sky before pointing upwards. Harry followed his hand and saw a brown speck that was growing larger by the second.

"Right on time, I thought we might have missed it completely." The man smiled as the dot got larger and showed to be a large brown owl carrying what appeared to be a package between its talons. The owl dropped the package in the outstretched hand of Harry as it landed on the man's shoulder to nip a little at his ear.

Harry starred at the heavy parchment package that was in his hands weighing it and looking at it from all angles. Written in green ink in flowing hands was simply his name "Harry Potter" with nothing else written below it. Slowly he slid his hand along the large red seal of a badger, snake, lion, and raven surrounding a large letter H and broke the wax, sliding out the three sheets of parchment underneath. Glancing through the initial letter of his acceptance to the prestigious school of Magic as well as the list of supplies he smiled a little and handed it to the man that was preening the beautiful bird on his shoulder.

"Ah, see, they never miss a beat, do they? I suppose it's off to gather your supplies, don't want you to be under supplied on your first day back, do you?"

"Aww, do I really have to go back there? I mean…" Harry was cut off as a few robed figures appeared in an alleyway nearby and disappeared into a nearby pub.

"Yes, you do, now come on and let's get your things." The man took a piece of parchment from his coat already signed and sealed and handed it to the bird. After whispering something to the bird which made it seem to cackle, the bird was off flying low over the buildings.

"You know, that's mean of you to do that every time." The man shrugged and led Harry towards the seedy looking pub that the other two men had disappeared through moments before.

The pub was lightly crowded with a few inhabitants in shadowy corners and people pulling long on a few pipes along the walls. The bartender barely looked up as the two entered the darkened pub paying them little to no attention at all. At one table sat a large man with black bushy hair and beady black eyes that poked out from within the mass of hair, he appeared to be talking with a much smaller man with flaming red hair. They both appeared to be enjoying a good drink as there were several empty bottles around them.

As the strange pair passed the two men Harry could hear his name being mentioned. Remembering what he had learned, and thanking anyone listening that he was so far unrecognized, he slowed his pace a little and kept his face impassive as he listened to the large man. "'Arry might not get 'is letter yahno. Dumbledore send me personally to collect him, just like when 'e was a baby." The large man seemed to tear up and cry a little at that.

Harry hurried to catch up to his older companion as they ducked out the back of the pub and into a small courtyard. There didn't seem to be anything there, but a few bins and a solid stone wall just in front of them. Looking around as if he knew he would be watched the man raised his bare hand and Harry could hear a soft rushing in his mind, barely on the edge of his conscious mind much as a soft wind blowing, as the brick was depressed in the correct order as the bricks shifted to push away from each other into a large stone archway.

The alley that opened up before them was filling slowly with customers as the day was just beginning in the magical world. Some shops were just finishing opening their doors as the customers pushed inside so as to get their shopping done as soon as possible. Few people didn't seem to notice the two newcomers as they walked calmly down the center of the alley towards the white marble building off in the distance. A few of the purebloods stared incredulously at the pair of muggle dressed men as they passed, but thought it was beneath them to really say anything to the pair.

Finally stepping up to the large white marble building that proclaimed it a bank, the oddly dressed pair was met by the end of a spear point. A short goblin stood on either side of a gilded golden door, each were menacing in their own right carrying a large spear and chain mail armor that seemed to be crafted directly onto their skin. One of the guards now had his spear pointed directly at the taller of the two staring them down.

"He is a wizard." The goblin drawled in a low menacing voice indicating Harry. "But you may not enter. You are neither muggle nor wizard and therefore unknown to the goblin nation."

"Come on, a little unknown is good for you. This makes sure that you don't really know everything, do you Hackblade?" The goblin stood back slightly at the mention of his name, no human has ever addressed a goblin by his name before, but kept the spear leveled at the man. "Just so we're clear, name's Smith, John Smith."

Mr. Smith, as he was known in many circles, stared down the small creature standing in front of him. The goblin leveled the spear point just under the man's chin, but he didn't seem to really care as he merely stared down the diminutive creature. For his part Harry seemed to step back slightly to allow the two people to stare each other it not for the intervention of an older goblin coming out of the building behind them, the staring contest might have gone on for much longer.

/:_Hackblade, you will lower your spear point immediately_.:/ The goblin muttered away in their native language. Both Smith and Harry could tell what he was saying through the translations in their heads and the slight tingling that said it wasn't normal English.

/:_ This one is not a wizard_. :/ The smaller goblin, Hackblade, pointed to Mr. Smith as he grunted along with the other goblin. The elder goblin took one look at the taller man and then his eyes widened. The elder goblin clapped the younger behind the head with his bare claws.

"I do apologize, sir, please, come inside where we can straighten this out." The elder goblin started to shuffle back towards the front of the bank muttering to himself in his native language /: _Stupid younglings, don't listen to history_. :/

The interior of the bank opened up before the strange pair of men filled with marble and seemingly carved directly out of an older cavern. The rock walls were polish smooth as were the floors on which several long raised desks were sectioned off by large glass partitions. There were several doors leading off the main room into different hallways.

The elder goblin led the two men past all of this and towards the end of the room and one large section of wall that was covered by a large golden coin. The coin was approximately six feet in diameter and covered by a large letter G with two swords crossed behind it and a large pile of coins even further behind it all. It was the official seal of Gringotts wizarding bank and showed the power of the goblins over the financial matters of the magical population.

The goblin led them past the last of the teller stations where a large man was furiously shaking a cane at a goblin. The goblin teller didn't seem all that offended by the blonde man waving his cane about. The man's son, an almost duplicate of him, was standing behind him with a soft sneer on his face, but not saying anything as they passed. The door that the goblin led the group into was a large stone hallway that sloped downward slightly with several doors leading off of it and a large golden door at the end of the hallway.

As the assembled group passed into a large ornate office the furniture seemed to resize itself to fit those of the occupants. The two men slowly sank into the chairs and faced the elder goblin across the desk from them. The large goblin slowly took the folder from the side of his desk and slid it over towards him, opening it slowly.

"It is rather fortunate that you are here, Mr. Potter as we have much to discuss." The old goblin slid a folder across the desk towards the two men and Harry picked it up to skim over the contents as the goblin continued. "My name is SlimRock and I have been the account manager for the Potter family for a number of decades until your late parents were killed and I was replaced by someone much younger. When the late Lord and Lady Potter were tragically killed, their wills were activated."

"Lord and Lady Potter?" Harry asked hesitantly looking between the older man next to him and the goblin. "My mom and dad were royalty?"

The goblin seemed to smile slightly and shook his head. "No, of course not, Mr. Potter. There has not been a magical royal family in some millennia. Lord and Lady were their titles as befitting their status in our society, or should I say your society." The goblin skimmed over a document sitting in front of him before speaking again. "When your parents died, their will was activated, but because the suitable guardians were otherwise incapacitated, it was taken to Mr. Smith here to take you in and adopt you officially."

Mr. Smith was not at all surprised by these events; however he did smile to Harry as he looked at him with admiration. "Technically speaking, you are Harry Smith; however you are more than welcome to be Harry Potter again." He said smiling to the young man.

"Because of the adoption the wills take effect of your coming of age at eleven and as per your parents requests, you are to be given the complete holdings of your family at this time." The goblin slid across a large black ledger towards Mr. Smith and allowed him to pick it up before speaking again. "You are still underage in the wizarding world, young Mr. Smith, therefore your guardian will be your regent until you come of age."

The older Smith gave off a soft whistle as he flipped through the various pages of the ledger and then looked up to the goblin once more. "The Potter's owned all of this?" At a nod from the goblin he had to whistle again. "Well, Harry when you become of age, or as I see fit, you're going to be one wealthy young man." He had to smile at the gob smacked expression on the young man next to him.

"There is also the statement of accounts that you yourself set up, Mr. Smith. I believe that it states that upon your arrival here in the bank there would be a complete record and transaction audit of all the Potter monies and investments from the time of your last visit." SlimRock was reaching for another folder that had just materialized on his desk.

"I did? Well, that was certainly thoughtful of me, and I wonder why I did that?" He scratched at his bald chin as the man next to him gave him a gentle nudge in the ribs indicating that he had already done it so it must have happened for a reason.

"Yes, you did, sir. The audit was just recently completed." The goblin skimmed through the folder and then both men could hear a grunting that quickly translated in their heads. /: _Never checked on the accounts before, stupid humans._ :/ "I must apologize Mr. Potter; it would appear that there have been some irregularities in your accounts."

"Seems to be the day for interesting happenings, would you care to elaborate, Mr. SlimRock?" The elder Mr. Smith looked at the goblin waiting patiently for him to explain what was going on.

"When your parents passed away your accounts were to be handled by your guardians. At the time only three names were listed, a Sirius Black, Alice Longbottom, and a Remus Lupin. All three were considered by the court ineligible to take up your guardianship so by default your guardianship was to be contested in the courts. This was before your adoption and before your placement with your muggle relatives by Head Mugwump Albus Dumbledore." The goblin slid a copy of the official will across the desk and into Harry's waiting hands, but while he was reading it, the goblin continued. "Because Mister Smith here adopted you just after your placement with the Dursleys could be finalized they never knew nor controlled any part of your estate."

"Seems to me like you got yourself a mess of legal problems already. Should be rather interesting to see what happens next, eh, young Harry?" Mr. Smith smiled to the boy whom stuck his tongue out at the older man as he read over the will.

"Mister SlimRock, since the adoption was completed on the 23rd of November, then I became emancipated?"

"Ah, the twenty-third of November, only if I had waited two more years to the twentieth anniversary, that would have been nice." Mr. Smith muttered to himself as he stared off at the stone walls for a moment. "Sorry, seem to have zoned out a little there. What does this mean for young Harry here?"

"All of this simply means that control of the Potter vaults will be handed over to you until he comes of age at sixteen, at which time he can take full control." The goblin reached under the desk and retrieved a bag and set it before him. "This is a charmed bag so that you need not go down into your vault whenever you need money, simply speak the amount and it will appear. Only you two are keyed in for the moment for security reasons." As the odd pair was rising from their seats to be excused, the goblin spoke once more. "I will be in contact with the pair of you if we are to find out how your accounts were so mismanaged."

The odd pair stood up to leave and as they were going, Mister Smith paused at the door and stared back at the goblin. For a moment the two simply stared at each other before Mister Smith turned to leave. As he was he could hear faintly the grunts and guttural sounds that immediately sent a tingling in his head that showed he was being spoken to.

_/: Take good care of him, Sir. :/_


	2. The Time Meddler

Thousands of miles to the North of London, through the rolling fields of Scotland and next to an expansive lake stood the mighty stronghold of learning that was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The ancient castle had changed little in the thousand years that had passed since it had been created by the great Founders. There were a few more cracks here and there, the dust was a little thicker on a few parts of the castle and there was the odd squeaking stair on the third staircase about half-way up, but for the most part it was well tended to by the army of house elves that the school kept.

The headmaster of the esteemed school was currently sitting serenely behind his large oak desk inside his rather expansive office. The self-styled leader of the light, most respected, and most revered wizard in a thousand years was currently thumbing through a magazine. A muggle magazine to be exact that had a few disparaging pictures of young men in various states of undress. This was until a small orb beneath his desk started to flash red indicating that there was someone on their way up to his office. Hurriedly he stuffed the magazine into a nearby drawer just as there came a knock on the old wooden door.

The door opened without a word from the headmaster, garnering a slight twinge of irritation, to admit a strict looking woman with a tight bun under her pointed hat. She wore long sweeping black robes that looked well pressed and taken care of. Professor McGonagall strode confidently into the office of the headmaster of the school with her nose buried in a piece of parchment. A quill in one hand and the parchment in the other she seemed to be marking off a few names on the list and writing comments on the side of others. Her body was on autopilot as she moved to sit down in front of the large mahogany desk of the headmaster and simply waited.

"Minerva, was there something that you wanted?" Dumbledore spoke slowly, concealing the irritation that he was feeling at being interrupted, throwing on the extra bright twinkle and putting a slight disappointment into his voice as he spoke.

"Oh yes, of course Albus." She shuffled the papers until she had found the one that she wanted. "All of the non-muggle born letters have been sent out and received; most of them have sent back confirmation that they will be on the train come September first. I plant to visit several of the muggle borns this afternoon and give them their letters personally."

"What of Mister Potter's letter? Was it received and confirmed?" Albus sat back in his chair steeping his fingers in front of him. He knew that the Dursleys hated all magic and would never allow their nephew to get his letter so easily.

"Yes, Mister Potter replied saying that he would be happy to come to Hogwarts and would be on the train as scheduled." It was a good thing that she was not looking up at the moment she said this as it caused the aged headmaster to slip slightly in his chair and very nearly to fall off. As it was however he caught his balance and righted himself before speaking to her again.

"All the same, perhaps I should send someone to check on him, just to be sure that he is being treated well, of course." Albus stated quickly.

"I checked on him not too long ago. The house was decorated well and there was enough food to feed two growing children, nothing to worry about. I didn't actually see the boy, but there was evidence from the food and the amount of toys that more than one boy lived there." Minerva pulled out a sheet of well worn parchment and scanned it over before handing it over to the headmaster.

_**Dear Sir,**_

_**I would love to attend Hogwarts and will be going with my guardian to Diagon Alley as soon as possible to acquire everything on the list. Thank you for this grand opportunity to attend such a wonderful school of magic.**_

_**See you on the first,**_

_**Harry Potter**_

Albus was stunned, the letter was eloquent and to the point and seemed to be signed by the boy's hand. It mentioned nothing of the Dursleys, but said that they were taking him to the alley to get his supplies. As he glanced at the letter again attempted to discern some mid-direction he caught his instruments out of the corner of his eye.

Since Harry was born there were instruments sitting on various shelves in his office that monitored the boy's use of magic, his health, well being, and a few others. The instruments never stirred after he had been placed on the doorstep of Number four, Privet drive. Dumbledore remembered one instance where one of his instruments flared gold, but before he could figure out what it meant it was back to normal again. By all accounts the boy was alive, but malnourished and should be very afraid of the magical world.

"Yes, but all the same, I think I should have Hagrid go to check up on the boy." Dumbledore started, handing the letter back to his second in command.

"Really, Albus; Hagrid would scare the poor boy too much. I already looked in and everything seems to be perfectly fine. If he shows up on the first saying that he was being mistreated then we'll look into it." Minerva shook her head slightly and made to stand up.

"Oh, I'm sure that anything he says is just embellished anyway. Many first years have overactive imaginations anyway. I'm sure that he's just fine." Albus waved it off, knowing full well that he wasn't just fine, but not wanting to tip his hat.

"Oh, before I forget." McGonagall paused at the door. "Have you hired a new defense teacher?"

"Yes, I have interviewed and chosen a Quirineus Quirrel as the new professor. I shall hope that he lasts longer than the others." Dumbledore steeped his fingers again, leaning on the desk to give the twinkle in his eyes full force.

"Yes, let us hope so. The past several teachers have not lived up to a very good standard, Albus. Good day." McGonagall turned and left the office, not seeing the look of fury on the old man's features.

_How dare she question my decisions like she's my equal?_ Dumbledore thought as he sucked on a lemon drop and stared out the window again. _Potter should be ready to go by the train, then we can have some fun._ His chuckle made a few of the portraits nervous, sliding out of their frames remembering the last time he laughed like that while alone.

XoXo

Mister Smith and Harry exited the large white marble building back outside to the bustling alleyway of the many shops. It was getting later in the day now and more and more people were coming out to do their shopping. A few proactive parents were shoving their children along to the different shops to get their school supplies while many other adults simply looked on and chatted about every day occurrences. The odd pair of man and boy seemed to draw a fair amount of attention because of their highly un-wizard like dress, however most people gave them a wide berth or simply ignored them for it. Harry was suddenly grateful that his dad had let him grow his hair a little longer that it now hid the scar on his forehead.

"Now then." Smith put his hands in the large brown trench coat he was wearing and spun around trying to look at everything all at once. "I do so love a little shop; where shall we go first; robes, potion ingredients, or should we just start with your wand?"

"Dad, you know I don't need one." Harry walked along beside him with his hands in the pockets of his matching coat. "And as for the cauldrons I can always use the one Mom made for me out of that alloy we found."

"It says pewter on your list, plus everyone needs a wand, it's why you're wearing that thing." He pointed down to the gold band that Harry was fiddling with on his right hand. Seeing him being caught playing with it, Harry stuffed his hands into his pockets again. "At any rate, when did you start calling her mom?"

Harry had to shrug here as he stopped to look in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies, checking out the brand new brooms. "She's as much a mother to me as anyone else. I mean Aunt Martha and Uncle Jack are nice, but she's around me so much more and she takes care of me. Don't forget what she already took care of." Here his hand moved to the slightly fading scar on his forehead, shivering slightly at the memory.

"Hey, kiddo, I know. Remember, I was there through so much of it." Smith put his hands on the boy's shoulders and gave them a gentle squeeze. "Come on, we'll start on one side and work our way down and then back up, how does that sound?"

"Dad, what were those in the bank?" Harry asked as they moved down the street. "And what did he mean by taking care of me?"

"Well…." Mister Smith put his hands in his great coat and moved back and forth on his heels slightly, bouncing as he walked down towards another store. "It's a little difficult, long winded, and could take hours to understand." Seeing the determined look in Harry's eyes he sighed. "All right, goblins are an evolutionary off shoot of a species you've already met; they have their cousins' penchant for mischief and sweets, but are much better with money and finance." Seeing the light in the young man's eyes seem to brighten with understanding he continued. "They're not as vindictive as their cousins, but have still stirred up enough rebellions and wars to last a few centuries; you'll learn all about them of course in your history classes at school." Smith held the door open to the first shop, and ushered Harry inside.

The large bookstore that they had entered was covered from floor to ceiling in various shapes and sizes of shelving ranging from high quality walnut that seemed to carry heavy tomes, to small metal shelves that were near the floor and carried smaller books. Harry immediately started to walk around looking at everything; occasionally having to duck a flying book as it reshelf itself. Mister Smith on the other hand moved with purpose through the aisles picking out all the books on the piece of parchment in front of him. He was so caught up in his searching that he almost failed to notice the conversation going on nearby, almost, but as was his custom he always kept his senses open.

"Mother, I refuse! You will not be sending me to that horrid school; I don't care what everyone says about it." The voice was obviously female and by the pitch it seemed to be a young girl.

"Sweetheart, you know that we love you very much." The older female voice conveyed nothing of the emotion described. "We want what's best for you. You will be doing our family a great honor if you went to Hogwarts."

Peeking around the corner of a nearby bookcase, Mister Smith saw an older woman admonishing a younger version of herself. The girl had long black straight hair that came down between her shoulder blades, she seemed to be wearing an elegant black robe that brushed the top of her well polished short heeled shoes. The girl seemed to be slightly uncomfortable in the getup and was playing with the front of her robes as her mother tried to smack her hands away from the action.

He moved out from around the bookcase and started to move towards them, catching the eye of the young girl he smiled gently as he came up closer to the pair of them. He had also caught Harry peeking around a nearby aisle and decided that he needed to intervene before things turned even more interesting.

"Excuse me, ma'am. I couldn't help but overhear, seeing as I was standing over there and your voice seems to carry so well in this old shop." He caught the girl's slight snort and winked at her behind her mother's back.

The older woman looked disdainfully down her nose at him and seemed to gather herself slightly. "See here, you scruffy man, you have no business talking to myself or my daughter."

"Come now, Madam Greengrass, there's no reason to be like that. I simply thought that your lovely daughter here would want to meet my own son who will be attending Hogwarts in the fall." Smith smiled genially at the astonished woman, but she huffed slightly and turned from the group, seeming to ignore her daughter was not with her. Turning, he addressed the now abandoned young girl. "Would you care to be introduced, young lady Greengrass? I'm sure my Harry can keep you entertained."

The young girl seemed completely confused. Not only did her mother just walk away without her, but this man seemed to know exactly who she was, but that was impossible, she'd never met anyone like this before. "Pardon, Sir, but I seem to be at a loss. You seem to know myself, but I know nothing of you."

He smiled and waved for Harry to come over and stand next to him. "Oh, me…I'm John Smith. I recognized you and your mother through the bridge of your nose, the shape of your nostrils as well as the hair. It's very distinctive…plus…" He smiled and paused. "…your family crest was on the inside of your mother's robes." He smiled as the girl fought back a giggle, not letting herself succumb to something childish. "Ah! Harry, I want you to meet the young lady Greengrass, her mother seems to have walked off unexpectedly. You think you two could finish up your shopping in here?"

Harry rolled his eyes pointedly at his father and smiled gently to the girl, sticking out his hand to her in greeting as well as giving a courtly bow. "My Lady Greengrass, such a pleasure to meet your acquaintance." The girl seemed shocked for a second and then smiled as well.

"My Lord Harry Smith, it would be a pleasure to accompany you around for the rest of our shopping." She giggled slightly and then stuffed it behind a façade of cool and calm. Harry smiled and nodded.

"We're alone, you can act like a child now." He whispered as indeed the adults seemed to have left them to their own devices. She visible sighed and seemed to loosen up somewhat.

"You have no idea how hard it is to keep that up all the time. I can't imagine how I'm going to keep it up in Slytherin this year. Oh, I'm Daphne by the way." She smiled and moved among the books pulling out those that were on her list.

"You're going to be in Slytherin, you're sure?" Harry asked as he walked next to her, pulling off books at random to read titles and then put them back.

"My whole family has been in Slytherin for years, some say dating back a few centuries even. My mother would love for me to get into that house like the rest of them." She spoke almost disquietly about her own future.

"Well, what do you think? I mean, you're the one that has to live there for seven years, do you think that you belong there?" Picking a book off the shelf, Harry nonchalantly twisted his hand around it and flung it towards the back of the shop like a Frisbee, watching as it righted itself and then soared around the corner of the aisle disappearing into the next.

"Well…I…." Daphne seemed to have just realized what he did, but shook her head slightly and tried not to think about it. "I don't really know. I'm sure being in that house would help me greatly with the other families, especially when I'm older and marriage contracts come into play."

"No, you're not listening to me. What do you honestly want; right now, not in the future?" Harry had picked another book off the shelf and repeated his actions of before, watching it soar around the corner and disappear into the next aisle.

"Right now?" Daphne seemed to think for a few seconds. "Ice cream."

"Really, I was thinking the same thing." Harry smiled as his dad came around the corner with a smile as well and watched the two young children speaking.

"Are you two all done here?" He smiled and nodded to the two as they started to walk towards the exit of the small shop. "Daphne, I've already gotten an extra set of the required books for you so you don't need to really worry about it."

Mister Smith led the two youngsters away from the bookstore and back through the rest of the alley. The shopping trip seemed to be much more enjoyable for Harry at least with someone his own to talk to again. He felt like it had been ages since he was able to talk to someone his own age again and it felt good to get a few of the more childish tendencies out and let them loose. His father was great in raising him, but he was a little lacking in what children really needed as a social environment.

True to form, the trio did get some ice cream and enjoyed it greatly sitting on the veranda of the small shop and watching others pass by or scurry off towards their other destinations. At the robe shop both Harry and Daphne were a little wary of letting the bubbly teenage witch measure them, even more so when they had to look into undergarments, but the tension passes as they moved on to the apothecary and then to Olivander's to get their wands.

Buying a wand was straightforward business, at least it should have been. Normally when a new witch or wizard gets their first wands they simply have to wave a few and find the one that really fits with their magic and their personalities. Not many people knew, but wands really did have a personality and some a penchant for mischief. Daphne was easy to match within a few tries she had her nine and three quarter inch ash wand with griffin claw, but Harry was taking much too long for some of them.

"Why don't you take Daphne to look at animals, dad? I can pay for it myself and you don't' need to stick around, Daphne." The pair agreed to come back and pick Harry up in a few minutes time once they had sorted through the animals at the magical menagerie to find two suitable for the children.

Once the pair had gone and the shop seemed to be empty except for Olivander and Harry, the younger man fingered the gold band around his right ring finger. After that the wands were much easier to narrow down, wood, core, and even length. Before too long he had a ten inch holy wand with a phoenix feather core. Mister Olivander remarked that with or without the gold band around his finger, he would have received the same wand, but it was nice to know to whom he was giving the brother wand to.

After a quick explanation of what had happened to his dad, without Daphne overhearing of course, the pair of oddly dressed men moved out into the alley to find where Mrs. Greengrass might have disappeared to. It took them a few circuits of the alley before they found her back in Flourish and Blotts waiting impatiently for her daughter tapping her foot.

Daphne bade a quick goodbye and a thank you to the pair of father and son for the shopping trip as well as everything that they had gotten for her. In her pockets she had a shrunken trunk filled with her robes and her books, her wand in a new holster strapped to her wrist, and a black owl sitting on her shoulder sleeping with its head under its wing. Telling Harry that she would see him on the train come the first of September the mother and daughter disappeared back out into the alley and down towards the floo in the Cauldron and to home.

"Well, what did you think of our little outing?" Smith asked his son, keeping the conversation light as they headed back down the alley towards the Cauldron as well.

"Daphne is nice, I got to learn a lot of what people around here think of magic, but no one really seems to know what it really is." Harry stroked the white feathered object on his shoulder. The beautiful snowy owl seemed to pride her on being on his shoulder, and didn't want to leave no matter what. The owl had already proven how smart she was by flying directly to Harry after Smith and Daphne had picked him up from Olivander's; consequently she didn't seem to want to move off his shoulder anytime soon.

"You'll get that a lot, especially the purebloods that think they are better than everyone else specifically because they can trace their family back centuries. A few will even claim to be an heir of a founder, but no one really knows for sure." Smith gave a wink to the boy as they crossed through the dingy pub and out into the London streets. Like Daphne, all of Harry's things were shrunken down and in his pockets, not that it really mattered in the long run since they were in his pockets.

"Why are they so prejudiced around here? I mean, from what I was taught before magic is simply magic." They down the street towards a dark alley where a blue box was parked seemingly out of the way next to a dumpster.

"Unfortunately it's the way they are. I tend to think that they'll change their ways once they realize that it's no longer the 15th century, but who really knows. Some of it comes from the biased history that they are taught." Smith unlocked the wooden door to the box and stepped inside. Harry shook his head slightly at the stupidity of people and followed his father inside.

"Oh, what are you going to name the pretty girl that we've found here?" Smith's voice echoed out of the box.

"I think she would appreciate it if I named her Hedwig, what do you think?"

"Yes, I think she would really appreciate that, Harry" The voice came again as a groaning/wheezing took over.


	3. Counter Plot

A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews, so far only one person has said that they've figured out who Mister Smith really is. For those of you that haven't reviewed, but know who he is, congrats. For those that have not figured it out yet, take a look at everything in the story from the manner in which they talk, to their dress, even to the chapter titles themselves. Almost everything I write is a clue to who Mister Smith really is and to what Harry has been up to for the last ten years. Enjoy!

The last month that Harry and his father spent together was probably one of the best times for the pair, but also felt very short to them. Even with all the time that they had before, it seemed incredibly final that Harry would be returning to school and his dad would be going off on his own for an extended period of time; no matter how short it really was. The pair enjoyed their time with one another just as they had when Harry was growing up, but they stayed slightly closer to London just in case they might miss the train. They were even able to visit a few of his closer relatives including Uncle Jack, Aunt Martha, and Aunt Gwen when the trio was able to get a few days off.

All too soon, September the first came upon them and it was decided that Harry would be riding the train; if for nothing else simply because he told Daphne that he was going to be there. So on the sunny Saturday morning a pair of oddly dressed people stepped through the entrance to King's Cross station in the heart of London. The elder Smith had changed into a well fitting blue suit, but kept the ankle length coat over top of everything as well as the trainers that he continually wore. He seemed to be a mismatch of fashions with the coat from the early sixties and to seemingly well pressed, although odd color, suit.

Harry was wearing what would become his school uniform without the robes overtop to announce to the muggles that he was different. He wore black slacks with a white collared button shirt that he left open at the top to show the white undershirt that he was also wearing. He too also wore light trainers, an odd combination, but he would change footwear on the train if necessary. It seemed slightly more mature on the short eleven years old, but it suited him well. The pair had dressed and then came to the station slightly early so that they could enjoy their breakfast at one of the many vendors around the train station without having to worry about rushing to get to the platform.

Sitting down at one of the many tables situated just inside the station the pair enjoyed a few breakfast sandwiches while watching the comings and goings of the many passengers on the train. True to function most of the people simply ignored the pair; meeting loved one's or sending others off on the journeys that would lead them into their lives again. It was all very fascinating to watch the muggles get on and off the large metal cars while no one seemed to care about those around them. It was as his dad had said years ago _most people ignore things that are right in their faces_.

"Well, I suppose we should be going; it's still about twenty minutes to go, but better to get there slightly early." The elder Smith catapulted the empty bag and wrapper into a nearby trash bin with expert skill while Harry missed twice before simply dropping it into the bin.

"I guess, are you sure that I have to go?" Harry stuck his hands in the oversized coat that he was wearing, being careful not to jostle the snowy white owl that had been perched on his shoulder through much of the morning.

"Yes, for the last time, you have to go. You did enjoy it last time." Smith gathered up the trolley that held the trunk and cage for the trip on the train. He had refused outright for Harry to have his things shrunk down and said it would be better if he arrived just like the rest of the students.

"That was different, and you know it."

As they moved down the short flight of stairs to get to the lower platforms there seemed to be a rather large commotion on one of the tracks, but they both ignored it. Stepping along between the pillars of platforms nine and ten they arrived at a seemingly blank wall and appeared to be staring straight at it for a time before the elder Smith spoke.

"You see it?"

"Yeah, it's as plain as day. With this much interference you would think someone would have noticed." Harry touched the edges of the barrier and felt his hand tingle slightly before pulling it back.

"That's what's great about non-magical people, really, no one feels this kind of magic in the air, nor can they sense it like you can. They generally ignore things that they don't see or understand, you remember what happened before." Smith smiled and rocked back and forth on his heels for a moment.

"Attention all passengers traveling on the nine forty-five train to Cardiff, there has been a delay of several minutes due to a fuel leak down the track." The voice announced over the intercom system just as men started running down the tracks of platform ten to get further down the line.

The initial squad of men seemed to be the normal engineers that would be around any normal train station, but the second squad seemed much more military than simply security for the station's sake. The four men wore black flak jackets with M-16 military grade machine guns at their sides and red berets on their heads pulled to the side slightly. They seemed to be blocking off the area to the tracks from a few other official looking people that were trying to break through. One of the men came close to the pair.

"All right, the train will be running in a few minutes, just a small fuel leak, nothing to worry about." The man seemed to stop at the pair of strange men for a second and look them over. "Sir, may I see some identification?"

Smith smiled slightly as he produced a small billfold and showed it to the young man in the beret. He seemed to stiffen slightly as he looked the man up and down before snapping off a standard salute. Smith groaned as he rolled his eyes slightly at the actions of the young soldier while his son was snickering next to him.

"Oh, don't do that. What do you need?" Smith stuck his hands in his pockets and waited patiently.

"Sir, I think that we might be able to benefit from your expertise in this area." The young man kept his voice low in a manner that many would consider conspiracy, but they both seemed to understand what it would mean.

"Harry, are you going to be ok getting to the train by yourself? You have my number if you need anything. Be good and I'll see you at Christmas time; hopefully this time it'll be quieter." He bent down onto his knee and gave the young man a fierce hug before he disappeared along the platform with the man in the red beret.

The figures disappeared into a sea of people and then seemed to hop down on to the tracks and up along the main tunnel that took them along between the stationary trains. Harry watched until he couldn't see the figures anymore in the distance and sighed a little. Petting the snowy white owl on his shoulder he looked around for a moment and put his back to the barrier, trying to think about what it would mean going to school. He had been with his dad for so long that it was going to be hard being away from him. His brain reminded him that he had been away for a while when he was being taught magic to begin with, but his tutors were close by and his dad helped him with that as well.

"Where's Platform nine and three quarters?" The scratching voice carried over the crowd of people even as it seemed to be getting closer. Harry looked up slightly annoyed that someone would blatantly announce that there was such a thing as a platform nine and three quarters; why not just announce to the muggle government that magic existed under their noses.

"Mum, what are we waiting for; we're going to miss the train?" The young whiny voice came just as the crowds seem to part and a large group of redheads came barreling towards the barrier. In the lead was a portly woman with a small girl by the hand; she seemed to be dragging the poor girl along the platform. Behind her trailed four boys all pushing identical trolleys as well as identical trunks and worn out looking clothing.

"Dumbledore said that he would be around here somewhere looking for the platform. We can't just leave him here, the poor dear." The woman seemed to be looking around for someone as if the person in question would appear out of no where. "He said that he should be scrawny, small with black hair and green eyes, not to mention that scar."

Harry's hands flew to his forehead as he considered what he should do in this situation. They were looking for him, but why? It didn't make any sense for someone to be looking for him on the platform when he knew how to get there perfectly well. Maybe they expected him not to be able to find the platform. He made a mental note to ask his dad about it later on as he carefully stepped backwards through the barrier pulling the trolley with him. Just as he was disappearing though the young redheaded girl turned around and seemed to be staring directly into his eyes just before the bricks solidified on his side.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he turned the trolley around and pointed it towards the scarlet steam engine that was puffing out white steam in all directions. Smiling slightly at the outward show of magic as parents and family had gathered around the train and were sending off their small children. Some appeared to cling to their parents in fear while others couldn't get away from them fast enough, darting onto the train only to stick their heads out and wave to their parents one last time. A few more uptight families didn't even hug, just acknowledging each other with curt nods and then the children would scurry up onto the train in perfect posture.

Shaking his head at this, Harry made his way along the train and slipped into one of the doorways. Carrying his trunk easily up onto the train he set it with the rest of the luggage, checking to be sure that it was secured before he set off in search of a compartment. Finding one a little ways down the train that had a good view of the platform he watched as more families thinned out. Just as he was settling down the large group of redheads came bursting through the barrier and nearly ran for the train.

"I told you, mum, I saw him. He backed straight through the barrier." The small girl was fighting with her mum to let her go, seemingly headed for the train after her brothers.

"Don't be silly, Ginny dear, Harry must have met up with someone else; anyway, no one can simply back up through the barrier, the magic doesn't work like that." The woman rolled her eyes as she gave hugs out to the four boys that were hurrying up onto the train. From his vantage point, Harry could watch the proceedings, and not worry about being seen. "Now, boys, I want you to be on your best behavior, and do see if you can make friends with dear Harry once you do find him. The headmaster told all of us that it is our duty to.." She was cut off as a blast from the whistle of the train cut off all communication and reminding everyone to get on the train or wait until next term.

Harry moved in his seat somewhat so that the people on the platform wouldn't be able to see him as he pulled out a phone from his pocket. The owl had moved from his shoulder up to the top of the luggage rack with his trunk, being put there magically when he sat down, and stared down at him a little. Flipping open the phone Harry dialed a number that he knew from heart from using it so often and waited for it to ring. Pausing slightly the phone rang a few times until it was picked up.

"Hello, Harry?"

"It's me, dad, and listen before I got on the train…" He was cut off as there was a roar in the background.

"Son, I'm going to have to call you back….No, watch out, and keep an eye on that one." Gunfire filled the ear piece of the phone before a voice came back. "Watch out for the-"the line went dead suddenly and Harry had to groan. It was just another day in the life of Harry Smith as far as he was concerned.

Tucking the phone back into his pockets he looked up at the owl, gaining an inquisitive hoot from the girl. He smiled, shrugged, and stroked her feathers gently as he waited for the train to move out of the station and into the country side. He didn't have long to wait as the train puffed forward and pushed along the tracks slowly inching it's way through the London suburbs and then out into the lush country side. A few minutes after they had already gotten going there was a knock on the compartment door.

Sliding the door open, Harry was assaulted by smells and shouts from down the corridor. He leaned out and watched as a bushy brown missile shot past the door and off down the train shouting about people being immature and acting their age. Turning his attention back to the person knocking he saw one of the redheaded boys standing there looking shocked and scared as well as highly amused all at the same time. Stepping aside, Harry let the boy into the compartment and shut the door again, blocking out the shouts of prefects and students alike.

"Do you mind if I sit here for a while? My brothers are driving me nuts. You haven't seen Harry Potter on the train, have you?" The boy started in immediately, sitting down on the bench opposite of Harry's owl.

"No, can't say that I have, although I don't exactly know what he looks like." Harry sat down and took stock of the boy. He seemed to be pretty lanky with dirt on the side of his nose and his robes appeared to be worn out several holes in the side that had been patched up. He didn't look bad for a wizard, but Harry was a little wary because of what the boy's mother had been saying.

"You mean…you've never heard of him?" The boy seemed completely shocked that someone hadn't heard of Harry Potter. "He's Potter…I mean….he defeated you-know-who."

"Who?" Harry tried to hide his smirk at the boy's seemingly permanent shocked expression.

"You-Know-Who! The dark wizard, surely you know of him. Anyway, mum said that he should be a scrawny kid with short messy black hair." The boy still hadn't introduced himself and already Harry didn't like where this was going. "You kind of fit that description, but you look a lot healthier."

"Why would this Potter boy be scrawny? If what you said about him defeating someone, never mind you wont tell me who, wouldn't he have some extreme magical core or something."

"Oh well, Dumbledore, the headmaster to Hogwarts came by a few days ago and explained it all to us." The boy's chest puffed out importantly, like he was given a duty by the king himself. "He said that Potter would be underdeveloped because of the killing curse that had backfired on him, and it was up to me and my family to help keep him in the light and to help him to develop and become stronger."

"Anyway…" Harry thought of a way to steer the conversation away from what he may or may not have done when he was only a year old. "I'm Harry Smith. Same name, no relation."

"Ron Weasley. I've never heard of the Smiths. Are you a muggle born?"

"Nope, half-blood actually." Harry watched carefully for the reaction of this new boy, but he didn't seem to react at all, simply staring off into the distance through the window. In all truth, Ron Weasley seemed completely indifferent to the boy sitting in front of him and appeared to be contemplating going somewhere.

"I should go; I was told that I should find Potter, because he would need friends to help him through his first few days of school." Ron got up and made for the door before he turned and eyed Harry suspiciously and then left.

Harry let go a huge sigh of relief. It wasn't so much what Ron had said, but the imperial manner in which he had said it. It seemed that Ron got it into his head that he was going to be best friends with Harry without any kind of effort on his part and was hoping on the fame that the young boy would bring. In all honesty, he figured that Ron didn't really care about making any other friends besides the famous Harry Potter; the fact he had ignored Harry Smith seemed to make that statement valid.

After a few minutes, Harry seemed to get a little bored simply staring out at the countryside fly by and the seemingly endless supply of cows. He had counted forty-two so far and it was getting a little tiresome for him. Sliding his truck off the luggage rack with ease he set it down in the middle of the large compartment and made to open it. A click on the compartment door signaled it before the door slid open and a small girl with bushy brown hair stuck her head in with a hard set face. She seemed to be scanning for something.

"Have you seen a toad?" The girl asked Harry as he straightened up from trying to open his truck. "You know, you shouldn't move things around in your trunk, it's against the rules to try and move things around and it would be extremely dangerous as to something falling on you or worse." She spilled out all in one breath without stopping; it was only Harry's training with his dad that allowed him to catch all that.

"Seems kind of silly really, I mean, I need to get a book to read and I need to open my trunk to do it." Ignoring the girl he dipped into the trunk until he was balancing on the edge slightly. His body being more than half inside of it seemed to be impossible given the exterior dimensions of the trunk. "Ah-hah! Found it!" Also seemingly impossible his voice echoed in the trunk until he pulled himself out and plopped down on the bench.

"First years aren't allowed an expandable trunk, school rules." The girl announced pompously, sticking her hands on her hips and glaring at Harry.

"Why? At any rate, it's a special trunk that my dad made for me." Harry spoke slowly, taking his eyes from the book. The book itself looked incredibly old with faded silver writing on the front and the worn leather backing. The girl seemed to stammer for a moment, trying to find a reason why the rule was in place.

"Because it's a school rule, it's in _Hogwarts: A History_." She said it as if this would end all argument, but Harry simply stared at her.

"You realize that not everything in that book is true, moreover most of the history books that we have are a little off topic. I mean, they say nothing about the zombie invasion during the Christmas holidays of 947, or the subsequent explosion that caused the formation of the Black Lake." Harry scoffed and went back to his book, flipping through a few pages before settling in on a specific section.

"What are you talking about? There was no zombie invasion, otherwise someone would have written about it, and what makes you the expert on history books anyway, it's not like you were there!" Harry hide his smile behind the book as the girl pushed her way into the compartment leaving the door open and plopping herself down on t he bench opposite him. "I'm Hermione Granger, you are?"

"Harry Smith." Wiping away the sweat off his forehead, his hair came loose slightly, but he didn't notice until the squeak from in front of him. Looking up the girl appeared to be staring at his forehead, groaning he set aside the book. "I am Harry Potter, and yes, I have the scar."

"Oh my god, I've read all about you in _Great Wizarding Events of the 20__th__ Century, Rise and fall of the dark arts, A short history of magic_, and dozens of others mention your name and the scar. Not to mention the circumstances with You-Know-Who." She said all of this quickly and in one breath.

"Who?" Harry couldn't pass up the opportunity.

"The dark lord that killed your parents, oh, I'm so tactless, aren't I?" She seemed slightly ashamed and hung her head, hiding a slight blush that came to her cheeks at the same time. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me, but you're famous."

"Look, most of those books have it all wrong. No one really knows what happened that night, and as for a rebounding killing curse….I don't think that's how it happened."

"But the books…" He cut her off here with a shake of his head.

"Think about it, Hermione, only myself, my parents, and Voldemort, were there. Unless some necromancer has been interviewing my parents, or old Voldie has decided to give an exclusive, no one knows what happened. I certainly haven't talked to anyone over the last ten years." He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest slightly. "It's a good story for sure, but that's all it is. No one knows what happened, and no, I don't remember it."

"But….if that's not what happened, then what about all the books. They can't all be wrong, can they? Oh, now I don't know what to believe." She pulled her legs up to her chest and stared hard at the floor. Apparently finding out that a book could lie was an earth shattering event for the young girl. Gently, Harry reached out and touched the girl's arm, feeling sorry for her.

"Look, its ok. Books can be wrong about the facts sometimes, I mean, books a few hundred years ago thought the Earth was flat, and they were proven wrong. More often then not facts are lost among the sensationalism and time. Hogwarts was built over a thousand years ago, so things will be lost over that time, and people were so happy that old Voldie was gone that they didn't really care how it happened. It's a good fairytale and bedtime story, but that's all it really is. Would you like to hear another story?" Harry smiled as Hermione seemed to bob her head, but the bushy mass wouldn't produce a face as it was hidden from view.

Repositioning his body so that he was sitting more in the middle of the bench, Harry tried to pry Hermione's hand out from around her legs. "It's a tale of monsters, gods and the destruction of the universe; much like the Ring Cycle actually now that I think about it." He smiled as he saw a slight gleam come to the eyes poking out of the mass of hair. "It's about the ancient gods and their war with a great evil. It's about the lonely god, the last of his kind, and his ongoing battle with evil in the universe."


	4. Remembrance

The sunlight glittered off the top of the large dome that let the light filter down through the layers of the atmosphere. The burnt orange color of the atmosphere was set off by the large burning deserts surrounding the large citadel. The dome encompassed acres of the desert, converting it into a livable atmosphere and a place for the inhabitants of the planet below. As the twin suns were slowly rising, one in the east and the other in the south, a very different sight was being met by the people that were just waking up.

Twin large shapes loomed over the horizon, coming closer and closer to the domed citadel, gliding along the air currents and then sliding in lower towards the city. The twin shapes were oblong in their design, with large towers protruding from the top of an ellipse that seemed to be partially flattened. As the light glittered off the metal hulls of the two ships they glided into a stationary position just above the citadel. The dome flashed briefly and then the ships started to move up towards the orange and purple atmosphere, slowly breaking through the ionosphere and entering out into the blackness of space.

As the twin ships broke through the atmosphere they were met by a much large ship, at least three miles in length and another mile in width as the others seemed to cluster around it slightly. Even the space between the ships seemed to show a tension that was hanging in the air. Dozens of smaller ships seemed to be flitting around the larger ships, some going into smaller bays and others disappearing entirely from space.

In the center of the largest ship was a large circular control room set about with holographic displays and various interfaces for the people that manned them. The people that sat at the stations looked human enough with various pieces of machinery in their ears or on their arms to aid in their task. The main control chair for the entire ship sat at the center and stations along the outer rim of the walls. Seated in the main chair was a regal looking woman, her back straight and her long black hair cascading down along her shoulders as she surveyed the fleet before her.

"Madam President, he has been located and is being transported up to the bridge right now." A brunette seated off to the woman's right spoke slowly, a hand pressed against a nearby control with concentric circles.

There was a flash of white light from a nearby booth and a man seemed to materialize out of nowhere, his molecules slowly piecing him back together before he stepped out. His long brown hair was pulled back slightly off of his face, but there was no denying that it was long and stringy. He wore an old style black velvet top coat covering a brown curvet tucked into a silk vest and white shirt. He seemed to carry himself with an odd flavor of dignity and uncertainty as he stepped from the booth and bowed to the woman on the throne.

"Madam President, I believe you have called upon my services." His voice remained inquisitive as he surveyed the woman.

"Indeed, I am in need of a Doctor at the moment. Do you know of the situation?" She leaned forward with a slight smile on her face. The man nodded and kept his eyes focused on her.

"I have, although I am unsure as to your motives, Lady President." The woman quirked a slight smile and nodded to her companion.

"Yes, I believe I should call the council to order before more have come to light. We need a decision." She made to move from her throne, but was stopped by a flashing light directly in front of her.

The people on the bridge rushed around to determine the cause for the klaxon while one was courteous enough to turn it off. The screens directly in front of the large bridge flashed quickly and then were replaced by the vastness of space, and hanging there were several disks with bubble like protrusions coming from the top and the bottom. The design might have been comical had it not been easily recognizable. The people on the bridge remained calm as was their training, but the fear was evident from the first voice.

"Lady High President, the fleet has arrived earlier than expected. The transduction barriers are holding thus far, but they are penetrating into the solar system."

"It seems the Cascade is no longer safe. Should we retreat?" The man in the velvet coat turned to the regal woman whom was just smoothing down her garment.

Before she had time to reply there was a shout from one of the controllers at a nearby station. "They've engaged the fleet, casualty reports already coming in. There are several reported sightings of others on the outer barriers."

"Ideas?" The woman sharply spoke, commanding the respect of those around her.

"Fighter squadrons have been mobilized, but they're still outgunned." A female voice came from behind her. Turning the woman saw others entering the bridge, two men and one woman with regal robes draped along their bodies. The man sneered slightly at the man in the coat for a moment and then diverted his eyes back to the woman on the throne.

The odd contingent of people watched as the saucer like ships glided through space and seemingly effortlessly cut down three larger ships that had come out to meet them. The oblong ships were firing at them with the contingent of missiles and energy weapons, doing damage, but it didn't seem to be enough as the ships continue to bombard the sleek metal ships until they were utterly destroyed.

"They have chosen the battlefield, now it is our turn to end the war. Ladies and gentlemen, we need ideas, and now." The woman spun the throne around to face the assembled council, looking between the one woman and to the others.

"We have beaten them back continuously until now, we should continue with this tactic." The sneering man stepped forward; he had a pointed black goatee, and was going to continue when he was cut off by a shout from the other side of the bridge.

Spinning the throne around the woman observed the man in the velvet coat working at one of the stations. The man nearby that had raised the shout was staring at the screen that now depicted the true force of the invading fleet. It spanned most of the screen and seemed to disappear back into the reaches of the space as it continued on its trek towards the central planet. The fleet seemed to have reached the outer barriers as a shimmering light seemed to push them back, but the battering of the light seemed to lessen as the time went on.

"Impossible, those transduction barriers were set by the Great-"The man started, waving his hands in the air.

"And yet they're here, I suggest we set that aside. Madam President?" The man turned from the console and stared at the ruler of those around him. He had made it very plain in the past that he held no great love for the ruling council of the planet of his birth, but he would still stand loyally next to them and defend it if necessary.

"Begin the recall sequence; bring them all home to defend it." Before the woman was even finished flashes of light were passing from her throne down into the deeper reaches of the ship. Lights began to flash along the hull of the ship before it seemed to disappear; swirling blue lights appeared at the back of the ship to disappear a second later.

XoXo

A man in a long black cloak gripped his right arm protectively as he snuck past the guards that were conversing in thick English accents. He paid little attention to what they were saying, slipping into the museum that was surrounded by the high spiked walls. The clatter of horse hooves brought him out of his thoughts as he slipped into the shadows to watch a bobby carriage rolling past, catching the conversations of the two men atop it.

"Did you hear about the latest one? Right pretty girl with her neck slashed."

"The ripper claims another Mistress I see."

As the carriage disappeared into the fog the man slipped into the museum and down the darkened corridors. At the end of one long hallway stood a wardrobe, seemingly out of place as it stood next to a miniature of the battle of Hastings. The man slipped into the wardrobe, closing it as it shimmered out of existence, a slight wind picking up just around it.

XoXo

A woman stood in slight irritation and pain staring at the bank of flashing lights and small cells before her. The wall was organized into small hexagonal containers, each with a small window so that she may view what was inside. Currently her collection was disappearing, each specimen being returned to where it came from, but it was the slight tingle in her arm that she tried to ignore.

Stepping away from the wall she moved to the central controls and flipped a few switches, determined to get away from the call. She knew what it meant, it would mean her death and the destruction of her work if she didn't get away, but she would be tracked.

The groaning of the central chamber ceased and she stepped out of the doors into the smell of salt in the air and the beach stretching before her. Before she was even out of the door the "No Swimming" sign started to disappear. She leaped away from it, hitting the sand as she went as the sign disappeared from view.

XoXo

The strange party of men and women had adjourned to a war room just behind the main bridge that held a large holographic display of the solar system. Currently the enemy fleet was tearing through the barriers that kept the inner planets safe, already there had been three larger ships destroyed with minimal damage to the enemy. The president leaned over the display with her face fixed in a stern and yet saddens state, it was her job to ensure the safety of her people and now everything was being destroyed before her eyes.

"You would think the destruction of their home and loss of their creator and leader would slow them down." The man with the black goatee spoke slowly and menacingly to the others as he twirled the hair around his finger.

"Now is not the time to play politics, we need ideas and we need action. All of those available are here with the exception of two. One refused the call and exiled herself while the other we exiled long ago." Spoke slowly the only other woman in the room. "What of the Eye, could we utilize it in some way?"

"The Eye provides the energy to our fleet and our lives, should we destroy it our way of life would collapse around us. In any case, it is simply an energy source, not a weapon." The man in the velvet coat moved around the display, looking at it from all angles, but it was bleak to say the least.

"It can be." The president stood up and put her hands on her hips. "The final solution utilizes the Eye." Those around her seemed confused, except for the one man in the velvet coat who seemed horrified.

"You can't be serious, that would mean-"

"I am well aware of what it means, but would you rather wait for them to finish us off and then go one to the rest completely unchecked?" She swept her hand over the visage that showed the fleet already advancing on the fleet in orbit.

Seeing the confused looks the president turned to the group and spoke slowly, making sure that each word held weight. "The final solution is a procedure given to each Lord President in the event of the possibility of destruction of the planet. It utilizes the energy of our lives to destroy an enemy."

"You're forgetting the larger issue. Someone has to go down to the main Eye itself on the planet sheltering them from the destruction. We would be condemning someone to be the last." The man spoke slowly as well still staring at the holographic image and letting the words sink into those around him. The woman nodded and looked at the ground.

"I should not ask any of you to make such a sacrifice, but we need someone to take the initiative." The sneering man started to step forward and then thought it over.

"You would be destroying everything, all that we have worked for simply to combat an enemy that is his fault that is still here." He threw a finger to the man in the coat and glowered at him. "We tasked you with their destruction long ago and you decided not to."

"Gentlemen, this isn't solving anything." She turned to the man in the coat. "Would you….I'm not asking you as a president, but as a concerned citizen of our planet. Would you do it? The rest of us are needed here in case you fail or if there are complications." Sensing the steel edge to her voice no one disagreed with her conclusions. The outcome of the war was bleak and it would seem that their race would end to save the rest of the universe; no one would ever know the true sacrifice.

XoXo

The stone circular building stretched in all directions and from any angle that he turned he could see stone cells that were filled with glowing balls of light. The design for the Panopticon had been taken to incorporate the ability to see the Eye as well as to see those that approached it. Instead of the large tower in the center of the building there was a pit that dug deep into the ground and contained the main Eye. The man in the coat shivered as he remembered his last experience with a smaller Eye, but kept moving forward.

He carried a single scepter between his hands that glittered in the afternoon light, but it was the yellow and gold sash around his body that caught the most light. As he walked he attempted to ignore the shouts and sounds of explosions from around the large building. The invasion had truly begun only a few minutes after he had been transferred down from the main ship. Now he made his way to the eye and slowly let it open, the scepter in his hands.

As he approached the central pit there was a robotic screaming that surrounded the large hall, but he kept moving. The hum of engines, and the slight skiff of dirt being removed caught his attention, but he kept his eyes on the large pit and the slowly opening Eye. The first beam of sickly green light flew past his shoulder and he broke into a run. It was so close and yet so far as he held the scepter above his head and drove it deep into the center of the Eye. He held onto it for dear life, propped up by the twin metal irises on either side of the opening as the energy swirled around him.

The moment the scepter pierced the eye a great wave of energy pulsed out from the center of it encompassing the room in a fierce wind that the man was at the epicenter of. The energy swirled in an orange glow as it pulsed outwards flattening many of the smaller buildings around the larger stone structure. As the glow started to pulse upwards people stopped to watch the beautiful and yet horrifying scene.

Every member of the race knew what the energy meant, change. As each person started to glow the same orange they turned their eyes to the sky and stared up at the atmosphere where the final battle was taking place. One by one, people started to disappear into the orange energy, pulsing upwards and riding the wave started out from the center of the Eye.

High above the planet the battle was going very poorly. Several enemy vessels had broken through the blockade to get ground troops to the planet and were ravaging the planet as they tried to push their ships back. The glow from the planet caused many of the people to stop and stare at it as it pulsed outwards from the planet incinerating the first of the enemy ships that was in a lower orbit. As the glow reached out towards their own ships, men and women left their stations to stare at the expanding energy as their own bodies started to glow as well.

Seated on the throne the president had to smile as she watched the people around her dissolve into energy and pulse outwards, destroying their own ship as well as those of the enemy. She held out as long as she could, watching the ship crumble around her, just long enough to watch the massive saucer hanging in front of her ship explode outwards in flames of fire. She let the soft warm glow of the energy encompass her body and then she, like the rest, was gone.

XoXo

The woman had stripped off the ceremonial robes that she had been wearing while she was doing her experiments. Standing barefoot on a beach on an unknown world she felt the pulse of energy even as far away as she was. Clinging to her arm she felt the pull of the energy of her body back through the vortex and back to where it was being called.

She screamed as she felt the energy over take her, but she would not let it all dissipate like the rest of them. Her body started to change, her cheeks becoming more pronounced, her nose pushed into an upturned posture as her hair changed from brown to a striking platinum blonde and grew out to her waist. She screamed as she felt the dying pulse of energy leaving her body sending her into convulsions on the beach, forgotten and alone.

XoXo

The man in the velvet coat clung to the scepter as the building was starting to be ripped apart around him. He could feel the pulse of energy pushing outwards from the Eye and seeking everything out that it could to destroy. The planet and all those around it would not survive for much longer, and he was at the center of the chaos. He felt his own energy being pulled at, but held onto it as he kept conscious control over it for as long as he could.

Staring out at the swirling wind he could see face, images of the past and the hunk of rock that they had inhabited. Energy swirled through these images playing back the history of the people that would be destroyed in a matter of moments. In a the last possible second the man pulled himself away from the Eye, surrendering to the final vestiges of the energy, but the rest of the problem came full tilt when it would not take him. Screaming in agony he barely had time to register the groaning wheezing sound around him before a blue box materialized around him and whisked him away from the danger.

As the man was leaving the energy wave consumed the planet it pushed outwards creating a massive energy wave. The wave sliced through both fleets causing both sets of ships to explode on impact. The sleek metal oblong ships were empty, devoid of life now as they sacrificed their lives for the good of the universe. The great evil had been burned along with the rest of them. The one lone survivor was carried away, far away as the blue box materialized on the beach of an island.

The man stumbled from the blue box, already covered in the warmth of the orange glow, but it was not tearing him apart but changing him. His features hardened, his jaw pushing out as he started to loose most of his hair; his body became taller, more muscular as his ears protruded from the side of his head. In a cry of anguish he struck the beach with his fists sending showers of sand down on himself, and if the universe itself were answering his cry of pain and anger the large mountain on the island exploded outwards.


	5. Mission to the Unknown

"…It was said that on that day on thousands of worlds across the Seven Systems and beyond, volcanoes erupted, seas parted and the universe wept. The destruction of the great evil had been stopped, but at the great cost of the immortals that had kept everything safe for the rest of them. Many individuals had died, but the sacrifice of the ancient ones, the one's that had protected the universe for so long, was one of great sorrow. The lonely god was left as a testament to their great love of the universe and its love of them." Harry spoke the rest of the story slowly, seeming to come out of a trance as he looked at Hermione before him.

As he had spoken about the meetings of the imperial society of immortal beings, she had shifted slightly and settled down in the middle of her bench staring into Harry's eyes. He didn't seem to notice throughout the telling of the thrilling tale, but she was fixated on him the entire time. What he also didn't realize was the fact that the compartment door was still open and a small crowd had gathered on either side of the doorway and filling the halls.

Prefects had been patrolling just at the beginning of the story and caught a few students loitering outside one of the compartments. Before they could ask what was going on they were entranced as well by the story of a long forgotten battle. Before too long word had spread that someone was telling a good story and the crowd had gathered, now at the end the prefects took control and herded the people away from the compartment and even closed the door on the two first years for them to gain some privacy after the long story.

"That was amazing, Harry." Hermione spoke in a soft voice, wiping her cheeks of a few stray tears that had appeared there. "Where did you learn such an amazing story?"

Harry brushed it off a little and tried to hide his own hurt at having to retell the story. He knew it well for it was told to him several times from at least two different points of view, but telling it to someone else was difficult. "Doesn't matter. My dad and mum used to tell me stories all the time of various creatures that were out there."

"Really?" Hermione bounced up and down on the bench eager to hear something else. "Maybe you should write a book, people would…." She was interrupted by the compartment door sliding open once more.

Harry stared at the blonde boy that were flanked by two large gorilla looking boys that someone seemed to have shaved down and stuffed into identical black robes. The boy seemed to carry himself with way too much arrogance for someone his own age, and Harry immediately thought the boy was a right ponce. The trio moved into the compartment slightly and stared disdainfully at the pair. For his part, Harry hadn't moved, simply giving the two a confused look while leaning forward to speak to Hermione.

"It's going up and down the train that Harry Potter is in this compartment, are you him?" The blonde boy put on a satisfied sneer as if he had just discovered Atlantis and wasn't going to tell anyone about it.

"Harry Potter? Nope, doesn't ring a bell." Harry knew that his scar was already visible, but decided to see how hard he could push the boy before he would blow his top.

"Surely you know that you're famous for defeating the Dark Lord. My father always told me that you were growing up in some mansion spoiled on gold and silver platters." The voice drawled on and Harry had the distinct impression that the boy simply enjoyed hearing the sound of his own voice.

"Who? Nah, I grew up with my dad in a small blue box traveling around, never really had much use of gold and silver platters though." Harry tapped a finger on his chin in thoughtful reminiscence. "Although there was that time….but then again we were the ones on the platters." Seeing confused looks he smiled again. "Sorry, I seemed to have drifted off a little, you were saying?"

The boy looked upset that he was being ignored, but quickly hid it behind another sneer. The two boys on either side of him still hadn't said anything, but they didn't seem to have the real capacity for intelligent thought. Hermione was keeping quiet, stifling giggles as she watched Harry work the boy into a furious frenzy. She remembered what he had said to her before about language and it seemed to be backfiring a little on the new boy. Before anyone could open their mouths to speak again, however, the redhead, Ron Weasley, stepped quickly into the compartment and put himself between Harry and the blonde.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" His fists were clenched in rage and stared down the boy almost ready to hit him. "Slimy snakes like you aren't welcome here."

"Ah, a Weasley. Father told me all about your kind of wizard, poor and loving muggles. It's a pity to see a good pureblood family go to such a waste." The blonde seemed to enjoy taking potshots at the boy's family and only making him madder.

What followed was unintelligible to a few people that weren't familiar with long lengthy word arguments about blood purity and family origins. Harry grew tired within a few seconds of the two starting an argument about their individual families and settled back into his bench as he withdrew a red delicious apple from his pockets. He tossed one to Hermione across from him as he withdrew another from the seemingly flat pocket. Hermione stared at the apple for a second and then to the pocket it came out of, there hadn't been a large bulge where the apple would have come out of, and it didn't look big enough to fit one of the large things, let alone two. Deciding to keep a closer eye on this strange boy, she took a bite of the apple and turned to watch the growing argument of the two boys.

"Harry doesn't want you here." Ron finally resorted to saying, bringing the other two occupants of the compartment into the temper tantrums of the two boys.

"Has anyone asked me what I want?" Harry spoke slowly; tossing the now clean apple core out the window and watching it sail down the tracks and bouncing into nearby woods. "Why is it that you two hate one another so much and yet you've just met?"

"He's a Malfoy. Everyone knows that his family has always been supporters of the Dark Arts and his father was a known Death Eater for You-Know-Who during the last war." Ron sat smugly with his arms crossed leaning against the bench feeling as though this would end all arguments.

"And he's poor! My father has told me all about you poor people, and you half-bloods." He directed the last remark to Harry, although he seemed surprised when Harry made no outward show of emotion.

"Who are you people talking about? I didn't grow up here, so I really don't know who." Hermione stifled another giggle as she realized that no one had actually said who it was and it was a little silly of a moniker.

"What do you want you filthy little, mudblood?" The blonde sneered again staring at Hermione now, whom just looked confused for a second. This gave enough time for Harry and Ron to stand up, although the later was now reaching for his wand intending to hex the blonde.

"Come now, we can be civil. Let's see…Ron, you over by the bushy one." He winked to Hermione and she hides her blush slightly. "You and the two gorillas can sit by me."

"But Harry, he's a Malfoy." Ron whined as he sat down, the entire group now trying to arrange themselves in a semblance of order. Malfoy and his two bodyguards sat stiffly on the bench of Harry's side while Ron took up position glaring at Malfoy across the compartment.

"Wait, before you go off screaming about families, let me get a few things straight. You're mad at him because he's a Malfoy." He pointed to Ron and then moved to point to the said boy. "You're mad at him for being a Weasley, and this is the first time you've met?" The stunned, and yet still angry pair nodded as Harry continued. "And you're mad at her, because she's a muggle-born. Why?" Harry shook his head and sighed as he leaned against the window and watched all five companions in the compartment.

"Everyone knows that purebloods are much better. Magic shouldn't be tainted by bringing muggles into the mix." Malfoy drawled on, staring down at his nails as if the conversation was beneath him.

"Why?" Harry asked again, flipping his eyes between Weasley and Malfoy looking for an answer.

"My father says that all magical people should be treated equally, no matter what their blood." Ron stated pompously, almost as if he was trying to impress Harry, sticking out his chest just as he had done before.

"Ah ha! Now we're getting somewhere." Harry clapped his hands together. "You've both been raised to hate each other and are simply sprouting off the family doctrine. How do you really feel about muggle-borns though?" He directed the last question to Malfoy sitting near him. The blonde boy seemed taken aback for a second before he opened and closed his mouth and then stared at the floor. "Neither of you have a real opinion of your own; you're just saying what you've heard from others."

"But purebloods are better. I can trace my family back nineteen generations." Malfoy sat up straighter, determined to have the final say.

"And what about before that? A family name has to start somewhere and I highly doubt that the Malfoys have existed since time began." Harry asked. Only Hermione, sitting directly across from him could see a small golden glow start to emanate from his eyes. "Ah, now I see. In the 17th century the Weasleys and the Malfoys promised their first children to wed to one another to create a binding family contract between the two families. In 1647 with the birth of only boys to either line the decree was nullified, but the families wished to keep the binding of their families. Both broke the contract with the Malfoys moving their estate and refusing the Weasley's compensation of land, and the Weasleys taking away the faming properties given to the Malfoys." He shook his head as his eyes returned to the piercing green that were now staring down the pair of boys.

"How…?" Malfoy started and then shook his head. "It doesn't matter, purebloods are still better."

"My biological mother was a muggle-born and she was the brightest witch of her class. Maybe your dad knew her and was just jealous of the fact that she did better than him. Plus, do either of you really know what magic is?" At a shaking of their heads he saw that they were enraptured by him now and he could have said anything, but kept to the truth as he knew it. "Magic is a great force in this universe; an energy field created by all living things, that surrounds and penetrates living beings and binds the galaxy together." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Hermoine think it over and then give a very unladylike snort followed by a series of laughter that wouldn't stop.

"What's so funny, mudblood?" Malfoy sneered, but it didn't seem to have any effect on her laughter.

"Harry!" She continued to giggle, getting her laughter under control. The pair of children was getting odd looks from the purebloods, but didn't seem to want to ask the question.

"Anyway, the point is that Magic is a great force in the universe." Hermione snorted again, but Harry continued. "You say that purebloods are better, but why would that be true? If Magic is better in those that have always had it then why are there even things like muggle-borns. One theory is that magic is somewhat sentient and knowing that it would die out has chosen to pass on the gifts to those of muggle descent." Seeing the still vacant looks in the purebloods he sighed and shook his head. "Think about it, you two. Both of your parents are probably related by distant cousins, correct? If that continued on for several more generations you would be down to marrying siblings and then there wouldn't be any magic left in the world. The magical world needs muggle-borns and half-bloods to keep it sustainable."

"But they know nothing of our world, how can we let them simply waltz in and take it over? They're a plague that's taking away jobs from good pureblood families." Malfoy was still clinging onto his last hopes and dreams, but it seemed to be slipping away from him.

"And whose fault is that? There are very little books published on this sort of thing because no one wants to know about it. People are given jobs based on their performance and their skill set. If a pureblood doesn't get a job because they're lazy then it's their own fault. Statistically speaking, more muggle-borns leave the magical world after their formal education because it's so backwards."

"It is not! We're better than muggles." Malfoy jumped to his feet followed by his bodyguards all of whom were now brandishing wands. Harry seemed completely unconcerned, but Ron was already on his feet with his own wand.

"Again, why? Muggles have means of communicating over long distances instantaneously, wizards don't have that. They have the ability to transport large goods over great distances, and have even been to the moon. I'm sorry, but the magical community as a whole is woefully out of date." Harry sighed and picked up his book once more, intending to tune out the other occupants of the compartment. He kept his eyes on Hermione over the top of the page though hoping that she might stay with him.

In the end, Malfoy huffed and stormed out of the compartment a few minutes after Harry had ignored him trailed along by Thing one and Thing two. Ron, much to everyone's annoyance, decided to invite himself to stay in the compartment with Harry and Hermione, but didn't offer up any kind of conversation except to reiterate what he had already said about how bad Slytherins were and how Harry shouldn't associate himself with anyone from that house. Hiding the eye rolling that came with these statements; Harry stoutly ignored him until the compartment door slid open once more.

"Harry, there you are. I've been looking all over for you." Harry smiled as he put his book to the side and looked up to his first age appropriate friend. He had friends of course, but never one his own age given the large gap between himself and his adopted father.

"Hey, Daphne; come on in and sit down. Sorry I couldn't find you earlier, we were visited by some unfriendly people." Harry slid over and let the black haired girl sit next to him. Ron appeared that he was going to protest her involvement, but kept quiet, instead grumbling under his breath about slimy snakes.

"Yeah, I know, Malfoy is strutting around saying that he was talking to you and how you and he were the best of friends." She rolled her eyes and giggled a little as they all settled down and started talking.

The conversations between the four friends, three really, consisted of speculating about Hogwarts and a few other mundane things like how the summer had gone and their own family life. Harry offered very little up to the others about his home life simply saying that he moved around a lot. Ron kept trying to steer the conversation towards the houses and how evil Slytherin really was. At a pointed look from Harry though he quieted down and let the others to talk as the train made it's way up the Scottish countryside.

At the announcement that the train would be arriving at Hogsmeade station the two boys left the compartment to let the girls change into their robes and then they switched. The two girls seemed to be getting along very well and Harry liked the fact that he could talk to the pair of them like they had known each other all their lives. Ron unfortunately kept trying to interject on conversations and seemed more like the odd man out. When they had to board the boats to sail across the Black Lake, Hedwig already taking flight up towards the owlry, Ron pushed himself to the seat beside Harry just as they were starting off. Harry had a brief thought of pushing the annoying redhead over the side, but thought better of it.

As the students were being led into the main part of the castle, Harry felt a kind of warmth flood through is body, like when a favorite aunt would give you a hug. The new students of Hogwarts were led up the stairs and into the Great Hall staring around at everything. Harry seemed somewhat unimpressed with the entire setup; he had seen things much more amazing than this, it was nothing compared to the grand halls of several palaces he had visited with purple moons hanging in the night sky. All in all it was impressive, the castle was nice, but it wasn't the greatest thing in the world that most of the others seemed to think it was.

"When I call your name, you will place the sorting hat on your head and it will sort you into the four houses." McGonnagal was speaking again holding up a battered old hat and a long scroll. As she went through several names it became apparent that they weren't going in any real order. Finally she came to the one everyone was interested in. "Harry Potter."

Harry had to roll his eyes somewhat, but realized that these people wouldn't care if he had been adopted. His dad had told him before that he was known by Potter and he would have to go by it for some time considering a few key people wouldn't know about the adoption. As he stepped forward he sat down on the stool and pulled the hat down over his eyes, letting it rest down on the tops of his ears and the bridge of his nose.

'_Ah, welcome back, Mister Smith.'_ A voice spoke in his head, but he just smiled contentedly and let it carry on. '_Yes, I do believe we should continue. Now then, where should I put you…._'

Albus Dumbledore, self-styled Leader of the Light and champion ten pin bowler, was getting restless. At the start of the sorting he had scanned the minds of those around him to get a feel for the anxiety that his new sorting situation would create. He had purposefully put the names in such an order that would make Harry near the top and have him introduced to his new Gryffindor friends easier on. Now it was nearly three minutes into Harry's sorting and the hat had still not called out Gryffindor. He was getting slightly nervous and was about to intervene when there was a sound, much like laughter from the stool. It appeared that the young boy was sharing a joke with the hat.

'_Oh, that is quite good, Mister Smith. Yes, I think I'll have to use that one for next year's song. Are we agreed then?'_ The hat waited a moment for confirmation from the small boy beneath him and then gave a sort of curt nod. 'GRYFFINDOR!' The hat shouted to the rest of the hall which immediately burst into applause. Dumbledore attempted to hide his slight irritation that it had taken so long, but a few had seen the scowl on his face.

The sorting continued on from there, a few others taking slightly longer. Hermione ended up in Ravenclaw and smiled a little unsurely to her new housemates around her. Harry gave her an affectionate wave and she blushed before hiding behind a nearby book that one of the older students was reading. Malfoy got his wish and ended up in Slytherin; although so did Daphne. She seemed a little irritated, at first, but the hat seemed to stick to her head for a moment and she smiled before sitting down next to another young first year named Tracey Davis. There didn't seem to be any real surprises with the sorting and most everyone ended up where they wanted.

"Mister Potter." Professor McGonnagal was coming up the table a few minutes into the feast until she stopped just behind the small first year. Others around him perked up slightly, including the annoying Ron Weasley seated across from him. "The headmaster would like to speak with you after the feast if you are finished."

Harry thought for a moment on what he could have done that would warrant a conversation with the headmaster so soon. He started to remember the conversations he had with his dad before arriving here and then the warnings with the hat. Shrugging he knew what was coming and followed the stern Transfiguration professor down the halls and towards the gargoyle. Just like at the barrier to Platform nine and three quarters, Harry could feel and see the magic surrounding the entrance, but some of it was overlapping with the magic of the castle. He could feel the soft warmth the permeated the stones of the old castle and smiled wistfully as he was lead up the spiral staircase.

The headmaster's office was a large circular room at the top of one of the higher towers; Harry thought for a second that it was incredibly arrogant to put an office there, like he was a god looking down on his worshippers. Sliding into the office behind the professor she introduced them and then left them alone to their conversation. Of course what followed was a few minutes of silence, during which the pair did two opposing things.

Once the boy was seated, Dumbledore began a small passive scan of his mind. There appeared to be nothing on the surface of the boy's thoughts. _That's quite fine, I'm sure he's just overwhelmed, meeting a wonderful wizard such as myself has that effect._ Pressing a little harder Dumbledore slipped into the deeper mind and felt….nothing. It wasn't so much that there were no active thoughts, but there was nothing there. It was more like a completely white room with no visible walls, doors, floor or ceiling.

_This is impossible; the boy can't possibly be thinking anything._ Dumbledore stared at the boy in front of him. Said youth was humming slightly and staring around at the various portraits and magical artifacts on the shelves around him. He seemed completely undisturbed by being in the office.

"Mister Potter, I asked you here tonight to make sure that you are adjusting accordingly to your new life here. Was there anything you wanted to speak to me about?" Dumbledore fell back on the old statement; knowing that in the past when a teacher asked a student if there was anything they wanted to talk about the student's mind would fly to the things they wanted to keep secret.

"Nope, I don't think so, sir." Harry kept his face impassive as the headmaster did another scan.

_There is still nothing in his head; how can I have a conversation with this boy if I can't tell if he's lying or not._ Refusing to show the annoyance that he was feeling, Dumbledore popped a lemon drop into his mouth and sucked on it for a moment.

"I find, my boy, that speaking about a problem tends to help ease the stress on the mind. Are you sure there's nothing you wish to speak about?"

"No, Sir. May I go? I have my trunk that needs to be unpacked." Harry made to stand without a word from the old man and stood next to the chair with his hands crossed behind his back.

"Yes, I suppose you may go. I was wondering why your sorting took so long." Dumbledore tried one last probe attempting to find the information that he wanted, but there was still nothing.

"Oh, I had a lovely talk with the hat and thought it would be fun to continue with a joke that I had heard before about a rabii, a priest, a nun, and a tree root." Harry smiled and then moved to the door. "Goodnight, Sir." He waved slightly and then disappeared down the revolving stairs to join Professor McGonnagal still waiting for him.

Back in the office, Dumbledore was incensed. It was inconceivable, but the boy seemed to have no thoughts in his head at all. He shouldn't have been able to hold a decent conversation without thinking of something, but he had.

"Don't even think about it." A voice spoke from behind him. Turning he saw the old battered hat lift itself up slightly so that the tip was flowing behind it in a more daring and dashing fashion. "I'm not going to tell you what's in that boy's head."

"I am the headmaster of this school, I command you to do so."

"Of course not." The hat snorted and then laughed slightly. "He's got a wicked sense of humor though, just like his father; both of them." The hat went still once more, seemingly going to sleep as the headmaster pondered over its words.


	6. Underworld

"Speak" – Normal speech

_Speak_ – Internal thoughts

/: _Speak _:/ - Magical languages translated

A/N: As always I don't own any of this. I apologize for not updating this faster, but I am working on other projects, not to mention my real job. I hope that you all enjoy this as much as I do writing it.

* * *

The first week of school seemed to fly by for the small trio that had formed on the Hogwarts Express. The rest of the school grumbled and talked in low tones about the classes that they were taking, specifically the fifth and seventh years complaining about not learning anything good in defense, but it seemed to be a good week overall for the school.

Harry had made a conscious decision after the first night that he would stick close to his friends no matter what, and so it was that the school was given an interesting display as Hermione, Harry and Daphne were all walking to class together. Most of the classes had Gryffindor and Slytherin matched up so Harry walked with Daphne almost everywhere; with Hermione in Ravenclaw it was a little more difficult, but the friends still made time for one another.

Another change came about when Harry decided that he needed more guy friends; the girls were fun loving and had a good sense of humor once he was able to get it out, but he needed guys to balance everything out. He had quickly started talking to the other boys in his dorm first and found a kind Neville Longbottom that he started to hang out with more. Ron Weasley attempted to implant himself with Harry, but never seemed to understand that he didn't want him around.

Harry felt that Weasley's bigoted attitude towards anything different was backwards based on how he was raised and what he had already seen in his short life. Neville, however, was a stark contrast; he was a pureblood, like Weasley, but didn't seem to hold the same prejudices as the redheaded boy. It was refreshing for the now quartet to get used to one another and for the school to find two Gryffindors, a Ravenclaw, and a Slytherin all hanging out together. It went off fine for a while, but inevitably the school would find someone to complain to.

It was the first full weekend back for the students and many were enjoying the last vestiges of the summer heat by being outdoors. The new foursome of friends was no exception to this and they could be found sitting under a large tree with books and parchment scattered around them. Hermione seemed to be helping out Neville by going through research for his potions essay; she refused to do it for him, but decided that proofreading things afterwards or even helping him in the research was just as good. Harry and Daphne were talking about their defense class, attempting to write an essay on trolls that just seemed to be stagnating.

It was, of course inevitable, that something would break the peace and wonderful time in the sunlight. This came in the form of a pompous and overly confident form of Ronald Weasley striding across the lawn towards the tree. Beside him were Parvati Patil and Dean Thomas; for some reason these two looked slightly apprehensive about approaching the black haired wizard and the small group around him. While the rest of the group appeared apprehensive, there was a smug quality to the smile on the redhead's face as he approached Harry directly.

"Come on, Mate. Why don't you come and play a little Quidditch with us? You don't want to hang around these losers, do you?" Now, Ron may have not had a single brain cell in his head, but he should have recognized the slight winces that rippled through the group around him. If it wasn't for that he should have noticed that most of the group had actually taken a step back away from him when he was finished.

"Weasley, I've told you before. These are my friends, and you are not one of them. We happen to be doing homework right now." Harry said this in such a calm and collected fashion that some people might have been fooled into complacency; some, but not his friends who cringed at the possibilities.

"Homework? You've been hanging around these bookworms way too long, you should be out playing Quidditch with the rest of us, not having your nose buried in a book." Weasley seemed overly confident about his clever responses, but no one else shared the sentiment.

Interestingly enough, the fates decided to intervene on this point and swept in another small group of people that were going to join the fray. This group however consisted mainly of the blonde Slytherin, his gorilla bodyguards, and a host of unseemly looking witches that surrounded the three boys. The girls looked more manly and closer to human than the bodyguards, but it seemed like Malfoy's radiant beauty made up for the lack of any femininity in the group.

"Greengrass, what are you doing consorting with Potter, a mudblood, and a squib?" Malfoy sneered. Harry put a hand out to prevent his friends from retaliating as he waited patiently. He wasn't disappointed to see Weasley's friends turn to the newcomers and do a little retaliating of their own.

"Sod off, Malfoy. No one invited you down here." Weasley roared at the blonde boy. At this point it looked more like two armies standing off against one another with the tree and the small circle of friends off to the side and directly in the middle.

As Malfoy and Weasley started hurling insults about each other's mother, the purity of their blood, and how easily they could defeat one another; the rest of the group waved wands in threatening fashion, Harry ignored them. He reached into the flat pockets of his robe and drew out a large steaming bag of popcorn and a nice large dish that he poured it in. Daphne smiled demurely before munching on it and Neville even came closer to watch the interactions; Hermione however stared at Harry's pockets and shook her head.

"You can already do a space expansion charm on your robes?" She asked in a hushed whisper, not wanting to draw attention to the group again from the two warring factions in front of them.

"Space expansion charm? Not really, it's something my dad taught me how to do. It has to do with the transcendental nature of the dimensional changes, you see…" Harry's voice was drowned out as he proceeded to explain to Hermione about what a space expansion charm actually did; without actually performing the charm itself.

Daphne and Neville were having a wonderful time with one another, munching on the popcorn and watching the banter back and forth between their housemates. Their eyes flicked back and forth from one side to the next in an odd imitation of a tennis match, watching the volley from one being returned by the next. Every so often they would throw in their own comments in hushed whispers about what someone might have said, but over all they were ignored and simply watched what was going on. By the time the bowl of popcorn was completely done with, their fun had come to an end in the form of the booming voice of Professor Snape, the potions master.

"What is going on here!? Break it up, immediately." From his relative position closer to the castle he had to wade through the Slytherin students before reaching the small gapped divide between the two factions; his eyes immediately locked onto Harry whom was just finishing up his explanation to Hermione. "Potter, I knew that you were at the center of this. What have you done this time?"

"Pardon, Professor?" Harry looked up as if just noticing that a large crowd was standing directly in front of his tree. "Oh, yes…of course. By me being the center I suppose by the nature of quantum mechanics…" His voice trailed off as he tried to judge the distance from the tree to the exact center of the open space between Slytherins and Gryffindors.

"Enough! You will tell me this instant what you did." The potions master was now becoming quite upset, his face turning a slight red and purple at the same time. In another universe, Harry would have likened the color of the man's face to his Uncle Vernon; sadly this Harry had never met Uncle Vernon or his wonderful color changing face.

"I've done nothing, Sir. I believe you should ask Mister Malfoy and Weasley about what this is all about. My friends and I were just finishing up our homework." He indicated the three students still on the ground with him and Snape winced when he saw Daphne among them.

"Greengrass, what are you doing? Consorting with the enemy, have you?" Snape drawled in a manner much like how Malfoy spoke; in fact Harry wondered if that was where the blonde ponce had learned it.

"Professor, I believe I can consort with whomever I want." Daphne petulantly stuck out her lip and then her tongue before going back to her essay in front of her, pointedly ignoring her head of house.

By this time the groups had started to slowly slink away from the enraged potions master fearing that the more of them there the more points would be lost; even the Slytherins were starting to get scared with the color changes on the man's face. Snape, for his part was beyond livid. It seemed that not only was Potter infesting one of his snakes with different ideas, but he was changing her whole outlook on life. He had to do something fast.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for your presumptuous nature, Mister Potter, as well as detention with me for the rest of the week." Snape figured that this would illicit a reaction from someone; he had already tried and failed once to get under Harry's skin during potions class with no success.

"Professor, that isn't fair!" The lone voice of rebellion came not from Harry or his friends, but the nitwit that started the entire thing. Harry merely shrugged both at the punishment and at the outburst from the redhead.

"I don't believe you heard me, Mister Potter. You will be cleaning out cauldrons without magic for five days." Sneering, Snape thought for sure that this would get some kind of reaction out of the boy, but still he simply shrugged his shoulders and stared off at a point over the professor's left shoulder.

"Sir, I don't believe you have any right to do either of those things, based on Hogwarts by-laws. Furthermore…" Harry started to speak only to be cut off by the aforementioned enraged potions master.

"Just as arrogant as your father, thinking you know more about rules of Hogwarts than a Professor. Make that two weeks detention and an additional twenty points from Gryffindor." Snape was grasping at straws now, attempting to find something that would make the boy mad.

"You've never met my father. Unless you're speaking of my biological father, in which case I really have no idea." Harry stood and brushed his robes off slightly as he hefted his bag onto his shoulder. "As for the punishments, sir, I believe them to be unfair and will be taking this up with a higher authority."

It was at this point that Snape actually started to calm down. The only higher authority that he knew of was Dumbledore and he would wholeheartedly support the punishment that was given out. The aging headmaster had told Severus at the beginning of the term that he had free reign when it came to Mister Potter and any punishment would be enforced; even if the old man would tell the boy that his hands were tied and probably convince him that it was for his own good that he should sit the detentions.

"Very well, we will go the headmaster presently and you will give your reasons why you think you should not sit these detentions." Snape sneered and moved towards the castle, expecting the young boy to follow him. After a few feet he realized that the boy was not following him and spun on his heel to stare at the boy. "Well then, come on with you, I haven't got all day."

Harry stared back at Snape, his eyes glowing slightly with a rim of gold around the edges of the emerald that they were normally. Hermione had been the only one to notice this change before, but even now no one seemed to really see that it was happening. "James Potter saved your life. You blame him for the pranks he pulled on you, and yet you're grateful that you're alive. You're angry at him because he did it; and the fact that now you owe a life debt to a dead man that you can never repay. You were also in love with my mother." Shaking his head, Harry smiled and walked past the stunned and pale Professor up into the castle.

XoXo

By that afternoon the tale of what had happened out on the lawns had grown to epic proportions, even based on Hogwarts normal standards of inflating rumors. Some said that Harry challenged Snape to a duel and successfully beat the older man to get the points back; others said that Harry wrote to the Board of Governors and they would be arriving soon to inspect the school. The Slytherin students were propagating their own rumor that Snape had brow-beaten the young Potter and that he had cowardly given in; even though no one listened to this story it was still fun to hear circulating around.

Indeed it did see that Harry had appealed to a higher authority as a letter had been delivered to Snape's office informing him that no punishment was to be recognized. The hourglasses in the Great Hall that had usually keeping track of the points awarded and taken away showed no subtraction during the morning and even more than a few were being added as the students ate lunch. Snape was furious and brought the letter to Dumbledore, complaining that the letter was not valid, but a magical check showed that it was; however even Dumbledore was at a loss as to whom it had come from. Even after speaking to the students and the rest of the faculty it was a mystery as to whom Harry had actually spoken to; giving even more credence to the rumor of the Board of Governors showing up at any moment to do a review of the entire school.

Harry, for his part, ignored the rumors and told his friends to do so as well. If he, or any of his friends, defended a rumor or attempted to put it down it would only stir the rumor mill onwards to create something even more outlandish; so they just let it be. After lunch, Harry told his friends that he had something important to take care of and headed along the first floor humming a jaunty tune that only he could really make out.

"_So Reel me in, my precious girl, come on take me home, Cause my body's tired of traveling, and my heart don't wish to roam._" Harry sang softly as he put his hands in his pockets and moved towards the doorway of a nearby girl's toilet. Checking around him, he slipped through the door and disappeared.

A pair of blue eyes darted around the corner stone of one of the hallways of the massive castle as it trailed behind its target. The blue eyes were shaded by a curtain of red hair and watched as the target disappeared into a girl's toilet. The boy winced and groaned a little thinking that Harry had lost his mind walking into the wrong toilet, but he didn't dare follow him in. Harry might have been a true Gryffindor, but Ronald Weasley was not brave enough to set foot somewhere boys feared to tread so he kept hidden around the corner in wait for the target to appear once again.

Harry slipped into the door of the girl's bathroom and then stared at the large round obelisk that was supposed to be a bank of sinks. They didn't seem to have been cleaned in decades and water dripped hazardously from one of the pipes under it down onto the floor creating a large mess. As Harry was about to touch one of the taps he could hear a soft sobbing coming from one of the cubicles just down the wall from the sinks. Thinking that a girl might have slipped in ahead of him he tried to back towards the door discreetly, but his overwhelming sense of morality won out.

"Hello? Do you need any help?" He stepped forward towards the cubicle when the sobbing stopped.

"You're a boy; you're not supposed to be in here. Go away!" The voice cried out in a harsh voice.

"Look, I just wanted to see if you were ok. I'll go away though since you really want me to leave." Harry moved towards the door and let it creak open slightly before the voice stopped him once again.

"Wait! You really care about me? I mean….you want to really make sure that I'm all right and not just tease me about everything." The voice seemed to be a little cautious of Harry and a little bit disbelief that he would even care to ask about how she was doing.

Harry shrugged, before remembering that the mysterious girl couldn't actually see him. "Of course, you seem to be in some distress and I would like to help you in any way that I might be able to." A squeal could be heard from the cubicle and a ghost flew through the door straight at him. Normally, when Harry is accosted with strange apparitions he is able to move out of the way, but this ghost seemed to be intent on tackling him as best a ghost could; interestingly enough she passed straight through him and then circled back around to float directly in front of him.

"Oh, thank you. No one has cared about me in years, decades even. They all avoid my bathroom because they don't want to hear me crying." The ghost girl wasn't unattractive in her Hogwarts robes. She had a pair of glasses perched on her nose that reminded Harry of his own when he was younger. She had attractive black hair that was pulled back into a pair of ponytails on either side of her head.

"I'm glad to help, really, but who are you if you don't mind me asking?" Harry leaned forward to inspect the ghost girl. He was familiar with ghosts, having seen quite a few in his short life, but this one was different with quite a lot of detail in the robes that she was wearing.

"Oh, how silly of me. I'm Myrtle. Most people around here call me Moaning Myrtle because of my crying." She seemed to pout slightly and then look down at the tiled floor. "No one has spoken to me in so long; I seem to be at a loss as to what to even talk about." She seemed almost embarrassed that she couldn't carry on a conversation with a living person, but Harry smiled encouragingly.

"That's all right; I don't talk much with ghosts myself. If it's not too much, would you mind telling me about that sink over there?" He moved a hand towards the bank of sinks that were rotting and festering. The ghost girl, Myrtle, shivered slightly as best as she could as she was a ghost.

"Oh, that's how I died. I was in here crying because Olive Hornby teased me about my glasses. She was a horrid girl, really, but everyone loved her for some reason. Anyway, I was crying here in the bathroom and I heard a boy come in, just like you did. He seemed to be saying something, but all I heard were hissing noises. There was a creaking and movement of stone, but I was too upset to really pay attention. When I looked out to yell at the boy, I died." She sighed softly. It seemed like she had wanted to talk about this for the longest time, but there was no one that she could go to.

Harry moved towards the sink that she had indicated, feeling a slight indentation in the tap just behind the main valve. It was odd seeing a small snake there, but he seemed to understand what it meant as he smiled over to Myrtle. "Would you like to see what it was that killed you?"

Myrtle seemed to shiver again, but smiled as best as she could. Her face seemed to have forgotten the act of smiling, but it was slowly relearning as she grinned at first. "You know, if you die, you can always share my toilet." She blushed light silver in her cheeks as she kept her eyes on the floor.

Harry let out a low hiss that seemed to be just what was needed as the sink dropped down into the floor and slid apart to reveal a large gaping hole in the ground. Shaking his head he slowly moved around the hole and shook his head once more noticing that something was amiss. He let loose another hiss that Myrtle couldn't understand and a set of winding stone stairs appeared that stretched down into the darkness of the shaft. Giving one last look to Myrtle, Harry descended the stairs slowly and cautiously, keeping his wand out and held high in case anything came out at him.

The darkness of the shaft ahead of him stretched onwards and forever winding down in a circle; after several hundred feet Harry had to look up at the sole shaft of light coming down from the bathroom above. Deciding to take the quicker route he emitted a hiss that slowly closed the entrance above him. A second hiss removed the stairs beneath his feet and he started to drop down into the darkness. He could feel the pipe start to slope slightly and his back caught on the side of it, sliding downwards until he slowly came to a rest just at the edge of it.

He was assaulted by the smell of decaying bodies, of small decaying bodies that seemed to litter the floor of the massive chamber that was just beyond the pipe. This wasn't his final destination though and as he continued onward he waved his wand in complicated movements muttering charms under his breath. The chamber at the bottom of the pipe slowly cleared away of debris, old snake skins vanishing and even the flooring being cleaned up; finally the roof was shored up by wooden beams and torches placed along the walls leading up to the massive vault door encircled by a snake.

/: _Open_ :/ Harry hissed once more as the locks on the massive door started to click open and then swing wide to the left slowly revealing the large circular entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.

As Harry moved into the massive stone room the torches situated along the walls flared to life giving an eerily orange green glow to the rest of the room. The sides were each lined with columns and statues presumably of Slytherin himself or some of his descendents that had found the chamber themselves. He moved down the center of the stone statues and up towards the large one at the head of the line. This he knew to be Slytherin himself, in all his glory looking up towards the heaven as if the world itself revolved around him.

Harry shook his head slightly at the emphasis put on the man and then hissed out a command and let it stand as it reverberated across the stone architecture and towards the large statue. Almost immediately a small opening began to appear and grow larger near the feet of the statue and was soon large enough for a manticore or similar large creature. Almost immediately Harry closed his eyes and focused instead on his other senses, hearing a massive shape moving towards him. Before it got too close, he could smell the foul water coming off of it and hearing the droplets as it came closer, he could smell the death and decay on the fangs as it got closer.

/: _Down, girl_. :/ Harry spoke clearly and with conviction in his voice, a type of command that one would give to a dog or another pet. He could hear the massive creature draw itself up short of him and then a loud thump could be heard throughout the chamber.

XoXo

Ron Weasley was anything but a patient person. He had waited a total of five minutes outside the hallway where Harry had disappeared into the girl's toilet before he had started to pace before the door debating with himself as to whether or not he should barge in and see what was taking him so long. Harry could have fallen into the toilet and drowned; he could have slipped on the floor and hit his head on the sink. Ron started to create scenario after scenario that ended with poor Harry dead on the floor of the bathroom while Ron the coward had been just on the other side of the door.

Squaring his shoulders, Ron was determined to go in there and rescue Harry from a fate he was sure would be much worse given the fact that it was in a girl's toilet. As he put his hand on the door however and pushed it open slightly he could hear a pair of female voices speaking just inside of the door. He paused to listen for a moment as he was curious, and of course because he was still working up the courage to actually open the door.

"You say that he seemed genuinely interested in you?"

"Yes, he even asked me about my past. I mean, I know that it's personal for each of us, but I really wanted to talk to him, and he was so nice about it."

"Do you think he would be willing to speak with some of the rest of us?"

"Oh, I'm sure that he would be more than willing to do more than talk…"

"Mister Weasley!" This voice came not from inside of the bathroom but from down the hall as the stern transfiguration teacher was heading this way.

Immediately Ron jumped back from the doorway, his hands falling to his sides as the door swung shut with a loud bang. It would have attracted anyone's attention now that he was standing there red faced and seemingly ready to enter a toilet definitely not his own. As he stood there staring down at the floor he kept thinking about his best friend still trapped in there with those two girls, who knows what kind of things they could be doing to him; his pre-pubescent mind went immediately to make-up and dresses.

"Mister Weasley, what do you think you are doing?" McGonagall put her hands on her hips and stared down the small redheaded first year. She didn't particularly enjoy intimidating the younger years, but it worked well when they were supposed to be disciplined.

"Professor, thank god that you're here. My friend, Harry Potter went in there a few minutes ago and I just heard these two girls talking in there. I think they have some ne..ne….some really bad plans for poor Harry." Ron was so convincing that McGonagall actually started to think that maybe some precocious sixth years had captured the celebrity and were holding him hostage for whatever reason.

"Very well, Mister Weasley, I will investigate the matter personally, but you will remain here until I return, is that understood?" After receiving a nod from the young boy the older woman disappeared into the toilet.

Ron kept pacing back and forth thinking of all the terrible things that a pair of cootie filled girls could do to his poor best friend. He wouldn't be satisfied until he knew that Harry was all right and that the professor was going to award him for his bravery in the situation; it was only natural since he had been the one to bring it to her attention and had been ready to charge in there to save his best friend. After a few minutes, the stern woman, with a diminishing blush to her cheeks, exited the bathroom and close the door slowly.

"Mister Weasley, the two women that you heard speaking was a pair of ghosts that roam these halls. They asked not to be mentioned by name, but I can assure you that they have no….ill will towards Mister Potter. Furthermore, he was not present in that bathroom and the ghosts told me that he had not been there." Smoothing down her robes she eyed the young boy before her. "You will be accompanying me to my office to draft a letter to your mother explaining why it is that you were lurking outside a girl's bathroom, is that clear?"

"No, Professor, you don't understand. I saw him go in there; he has to be in there. I've been standing out here the entire time and no one has come in or out in that entire time." Ron tried to continue protesting as the stern witch took him by his ear and proceeded to drag him away from the door to the girl's bathroom.

As luck would have it, just as Ron was dragged out of sight of the door, it opened to reveal a thick black head of hair and green eyes. Harry quickly surveyed the hallway making sure that coast was clear before sliding out the door and calmly walking down in the opposite direction towards the Great Hall and what promised to be a good lunch. He kept thinking over what had just happened down below the school and shook his head gently, thinking to himself.

_I'll have to bring her a cow next time for her thoughtful insight into the castle._


	7. Carnival of Monsters

A/N: (Insert Generic Disclaimer here) Ok, so by now everyone knows the deal that's been on here longer than five minutes; I don't own this and never will, so enjoy. Sorry it took so long to update, but I've been working on the sequel to In Harry We Trust which has the first three chapters already uploaded. Also, I'm working on a cliché one-shot and wanted everyone's opinions on the clichés here in fan fiction that I can incorporate, the more the better. Have fun!

The warmer month of September slowly bled into the frigid pre-winter of October and before too long it was getting closer and closer to Halloween; the one real holiday celebrated while all the students were at Hogwarts. For many of the students it was a time of costumes, candy, and entertainment; while for the professors it was a time of pranks and sleepless nights of undoing student activities throughout the school. For one man in particular, the middle of the month of October brought something interesting in the owl post for that month; nothing.

Albus Dumbledore sat at the Head Table as always calmly watching the owls coming in for the morning post and carrying all manner of letters to their intended targets. He had observed that Harry had taken to a regular correspondence with someone; however all of his inquiries had been met with resistance. Harry himself would not talk about whom he was regularly writing to, his friends either did not know or had found a way to block his mental probes, and even the other teachers had no idea what was going on. The big piece of news, however for the headmaster was not what was in the mail, but what was curiously absent.

Since December of 1981, he had been receiving regular bank statements on the assets and accounts of Harry James Potter. The goblins were always very punctual and each month the statement would arrive on precisely the twelfth; he never questioned why this was, just accepted that the statements would always be there as they should. Last month had had not received one, but figured they were just making sure that everything was in order with the sizable withdrawal for school tuition fees. This month however, the statement was late again, and there was no rational explanation for why it would be late.

_Those pesky little monsters need a reminder of just who I am._ Dumbledore thought as he surveyed the students just finishing up breakfast. He figured that he would have the time to pop over to the bank just after breakfast was finished and take care of the needed business.

"It's so nice to see young Mister Potter making friends and in different houses as well." The Deputy Headmistress broke off his train of thought and he had to bite back a snapping remark as he smiled the benevolent smile that he always had fixed in place.

"Yes, it would seem that your concern over his placement with his relative was unfounded, Minerva." Inside however he was seething. _Those stupid muggles were supposed to keep him beaten down so that he would latch onto the youngest Weasley, now he seems confident and making friends on his own. I might have to make a side trip to them as well._

"Yes, I have to say this is one time I was happy to be proven wrong." The stern woman gave a small smile as she sipped from her goblet. "Although, I do wonder to who he's been writing to since the beginning of the month; the letters just arrived one day and they haven't stopped since."

"Oh, I'm sure that it's just his aunt and uncle wanting to be sure that he's not homesick and settling in just fine." Dumbledore smiled again and shifted in his seat as he made to stand. "Minerva, I will be out on official business for most of the morning, would you take care to deal with anything that crops up?"

"Of course Albus, but I don't remember seeing an official summons from the Ministry."

"No, just some personal business that I must attend to, something that came up suddenly." While his face was smiling he was sneering on the inside. _How dare this woman question me, I am Albus Dumbledore. She should be happy to still have her job._

Bidding his colleagues a good day, Dumbledore slid off to the side of the Head Table and made his way out of the Great Hall. He never noticed that a pair of 'killing curse' green eyes followed his movements and then tied a small note onto his snowy white owl. The owl had served him well over the past month and a half and seemed determined not to be caught on any of her special deliveries, and this one was extra special. Dumbledore, for his part, was playing directly into the plans that had already been set up long ago.

The aging headmaster, still fuming on the inside, waved a friendly hello to a few of the older students on his way out onto the grounds of the school. Making his way past the gates and thus the wards of the school he was able to disappear on the spot with little more than a soft pop as a bubble might make releasing its air. He reappeared just outside the main entrance to Diagon Alley and felt even more anger.

_Stupid goblins, forcing good people like me to have to come all the way out here just to do business. I should be able to go directly into a private room._ Dumbledore huffed indignantly, producing his wand and tapping the bricks to open the entrance.

Diagon Alley had not changed much in the several hundred years since it was first conceived and hidden away in the middle of London. Thus the shops had relatively remained the same, with a few things going out of fashion over the years and being replaced by others. There were not many shoppers on the clear October morning considering most of the populace was still at home enjoying their breakfast, or there was little reason for them to come to the alley seeing as how their children would be safely tucked away at the fortress of Hogwarts.

Giving the required, and expected, wave to a few of his former students as well as a benevolent smile to any younger siblings that might be starting in the next few years, Dumbledore finally made it to the golden doors of the bank of Gringotts. At seeing the small amount of people in the lobby he moved towards a free teller and stopped before the aging creature waiting to be acknowledged. And he waited, and he waited for several minutes before he was about to loose his temper.

"Master Goblin, may I have your ear?" The old man put on his best fake smile as he waited yet again for an answer, all the while inside thinking of all the curses he knew to disembowel the creature before him.

"Ah, Lord Dumbledore, I was unaware of your presence." The goblin sneered slightly, pushing the ledger before him closed with a small thump.

"Understandable, of course considering the bank is always busy with something." Dumbledore held his tongue better than even he thought possible. "I would like to inquire as to why my account statements were not received last month or this month."

The goblin made a big show of scanning through the ledger off to the side of the small teller cubicle. He had already guessed why the old meddler would be here, but wanted to confirm it and embarrass the man even further. "The Dumbledore account summaries were sent out as always on the ninth of the month." The goblin knew for sure that these had been received as their owls had come back satisfied with the delivery.

"It is not the Dumbledore accounts that I am inquiring about. I was to receive monthly statements from the Potter account as well as per the court documents naming myself the magical guardian of the young Potter scion." Dumbledore was getting very close to loosing his temper, but he knew that it would ruin decades of plans if he so much as twitched toward his wand.

"Ah, well then, you should have received notification that the true guardian of Mister Potter had been uncovered." The goblin left it at that and went back to what it had been doing before the old man had arrived.

"True guardian? I was only aware of the traitor Black being named the godfather, and the Wizengamot deemed on December of 1981 that I would be named the only fit guardian for the boy." The old man's voice was starting to get louder, not loud enough to garner attention from those other patrons in the bank, but enough to make him look menacing to the goblin; or at least this is what he thought.

"Mister Potter has been notified as to his assets as well as his guardian. I believe your business here is concluded, Lord Dumbledore, unless you have something of your own accounts to be concerned with." The goblin seemed to be hinting at something, but it went over Dumbledore's head as he stormed away from the teller and back towards the front doors of the bank.

_The Dursleys wouldn't have claimed guardianship over the boy that would have required them to come here and make an official notification. If they had learned of the vaults though they might have brought the boy here and forced him to sign something. _Dumbledore thought about what he would have to do to salvage the money that he had relied upon for almost ten years. It was a great loss to him and to other "charitable" organizations if the Potter fortune was not in his control.

XoXo

At the same time as Dumbledore was storming away from the bank, lunch had just started being served in the Great Hall of Hogwarts. This in itself was not a stupendous occasion, even if you take into account the wonderful food being produced by the many house elves. The thing that made this lunch different from the one's that came before it was the manner in which a pair of brown eyes watched a fellow student seated near the end of the table just across from her.

The girl pulled back her thick curtain of black hair and pinned it back with an elegant silver catch as she continued to stare at the black haired wizard at the table across from her. She was careful not to be caught staring by the others at her table, or by those at the other table, or so she thought. She was focusing so intently on the young man that she didn't feel her friend sit down next to her and give her a slight nudge in the ribs.

"Why don't you go and talk to him?" The second girl spoke up as she loaded some food onto her plate, catching a glance at the wizard in question.

"You don't just walk up to the Boy-Who-Lived and strike up a conversation. It has to be just the right setting and I have to have just on the right outfit." The girl waved her hand around emphatically as she speared a piece of steak on the end of her fork. "Every girl in Hogwarts wants to be with him."

"That Granger girl and Greengrass seem to hang around him quite a bit." The girl chewed on a piece of a biscuit as she sought out the girl in question. Hermione Granger was seated several places down speaking to an older Ravenclaw female about something and laughing along with the older girl.

"Yes, but he doesn't have any female friends in his own house. Those two don't seem very possessive over him so any girl should be able to make her move on the boy." The first girl stared intently at her query as he laughed along with the pudgy Longbottom boy.

"Girl, you're twelve, what do you know about a real relationship? Aren't we supposed to be more concerned over our hair and studies than boys? They'll be plenty of time in the next six years for you to make your move on the poor boy." The second girl smiled and gave a small wave in Hermione's direction and received a wave in reply and a soft smile.

"Hey, if I don't make my move now, who knows what could happen in the next few years. Granger might turn into some model or Greengrass could develop sooner and start to have eyes for him. No, I need to make my move now. If I don't I could end up with some petty Hufflepuff." The girl shivered at the thought and then groaned.

"Some of them are rather cute, you know." She smiled and gave a wave to the Hufflepuff table only to receive weird looks and slightly confused boys.

"I suppose Diggory isn't too bad looking, but I want to have some kind of future." The first girl sighed and fixed her brown eyes back to the black haired wizard whom was currently getting up to leave for his next class. "I think I should make my move soon, what do you think?"

"Girl, I've told you before that you have plenty of time, but if you really think you need to then you should go quickly." The second girl indicated with her fork to show that both Hermione and Daphne had gotten up from their perspective tables and started heading off to catch up with their friends.

"Shoot, distract them for me." The first girl was busy smoothing down the silk blouse that she was wearing and the normal pleated uniform skirt making sure that she didn't have any stains or crumbs.

"No, do your own dirty work." The two girls watched as the Slytherin princess and the Ravenclaw prodigy disappeared out the Great Hall doors.

"Come on, we might still be able to catch them." The girl grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her to her feet, nearly dragging her out of the doors and into the entrance hall.

The entrance hall was still partially filled with students moving to and from classes and a few just standing around talking to friends from different houses. It didn't seem odd nowadays to see more Gryffindors hanging around Slytherins. It seemed like Harry's friendship with people from other houses had started to spill over into the rest of the school, even though he still didn't have a Hufflepuff friend. This all being said, the two girls came out of the Great Hall into a milling throng of people that seemed to be enjoying the last few vestiges of summer before the true winter chill.

"Where is he?" The black haired girl whined, pulling on strands of her hair and trying very hard not to nibble on them.

"Stop worrying so much. I think I saw him heading up the staircases, towards the seventh floor." The other girl looked slightly out of breath and groaned as her friend took off for said seventh floor.

The castle stairs, being unruly and generally known pranksters in their own right, changed several times on the girls as they made their way up them. If the girls were keen observers they might have seen that every time they got closer to a small figure with black hair, the stairs would push them off into an opposite direction, but they weren't paying any attention to the stairs as they changed and moved around. It took the girls another ten minutes to finally reach the seventh floor, and by then the small figure of Harry Potter had disappeared completely from view.

The long stone hallway stretched for a while in front of them, running along the outermost battlements of the castle. It was completely empty. Not even at the far end where the hallway twisted slightly to the right to follow along the other side of the castle could they see even a hint of black hair or any hair at all. The hallway and indeed the entire floor looked completely deserted. The two girls bent over with their hands on their knees gasping for breath.

"Oh, we lost him! I tell you something weird is going on up here. He should have been right here." The black haired girl swung her arms around trying to prove her point.

Staring at the opposite wall from where they were standing, the other girl thought for sure that she had seen a small hole appear in the stone and then vanish. It seemed like the stone had melted for a moment before reappearing solid as ever. Moving over she ran a hand along the solid stone and groaned, sometimes magic was just too unpredictable for her nature. Turning back to her agitated friend she sighed and grabbed the girl by the arm.

"Come on, we better get back to the common room before our next class. We wouldn't want to make Professor Sprout mad at us this early in the term."

"But what about my hunky boy toy?" The other girl whined like a little two year old that had just lost her favorite stuffed animal.

"You've got six years at Hogwarts with him, there's still time. Leave it alone, girl." Turning back to the staircases she dragged her friend down a few flights and then up along the corridors towards their common room, all the while watching painting move eyeing them and the stairs themselves helping them along. Something was definitely going on at Hogwarts and Harry Potter was at the center of it all.

XoXo

The week leading up to the Halloween feast saw a change in the activities around the castle. Mostly it was the upper years getting ready for the holidays that were a month away now and for the younger years to enjoy the fading weather. Indeed the weather started to take a turn for the worse with hailing thunderstorms sometimes pounding the stones of the thousand year old castle threatening to break it apart. The drafty hallways were often flooded with bundled students huddled together in large packs to keep warm as they moved from one class to the next. One enterprising seventh year had even attempted to enchant every third stone down one particular hallway to emit a warming charm whenever they were touched; it took Professor Flitwick and McGonagall several hours to get rid of the rainforest that had suddenly sprouted due to increased warmth and humidity.

These days also saw a decrease in Harry being with his friends. He would give some excuse and then disappear for a few hours. On more than one occasion he would disappear around one corner only to be seen jogging back coming from the opposite direction. Once, as Daphne was coming out of the dungeons she thought she saw Harry disappear into a nearby girl's bathroom. When talking about it with him at lunch, Neville said that he saw Harry at the exact same time up on the third floor talking to one of the portraits.

The boy in question invariably had some excuse for his disappearances, merely stating that he was in the library doing research on something. He told his friends that he was sorry and then from then on he was seen with him all the time, even if on occasion a few students would comment on something they had never seen him do. It was the day before the great feast was to be held when Harry received a rather large package tied to Hedwig's leg.

"What's that, Harry?" Neville leaned over to look at the note that was attached to the package, but all he could see were a series of circles and weird symbols. They must have meant something to his friend as he started laughing uncontrollably.

The laughter brought the attention of the teachers as well as the students around them. Seeing a possible in with the young Mister Potter, Dumbledore swooped down at the first opportunity and found himself next to the boy in seconds. Harry, for his part, had noticed when the Headmaster started to come over to the table and told Hedwig to take the package up to the windowsill at his dorm room. As the owl disappeared the appropriate twinkling eyes of Dumbledore descended on him.

"Harry my boy; I see that you got a package. Who was it from?" Gently probing his mind, Dumbledore finally seemed to get something off the enigmatic boy, but it was a jumble of images and needed to be sorted out.

"My guardian actually; I had written to him a while back asking some interesting questions and he just got back with me. If you'll excuse me, I think that I'll take my letters upstairs with me." Harry pocketed the envelope with the strange note in it and made to leave, only to be stopped by the imposing figure of the Headmaster.

"I must insist that I see that, Mister Potter. You are quite the celebrity around here and I need to be sure that there is nothing dark about that letter or the accompanying package." He held out his hand, putting on the strongest compulsion charm that he could pull off. It seemed to work as Harry produced the note and put it in the old man's hand.

Albus Dumbledore would have fancied himself a man of the world, knowing many different obscure and sometimes rare languages, not to mention all the reading he had done. As he stared at the boy in question and then down at the note with the odd symbols and circles, he was thoroughly confused for maybe the third time in his life. To him, the symbols looked to be a string of mathematical equations that would lead up to something monumental and mean something profound, but for the life of him he couldn't understand a single variable being represented.

"Albus, I see no reason to disturb young Potter's breakfast. You know as well as I that the wards around the castle prevent anything overtly dark from being brought in without your knowledge." Minerva moved to Dumbledore's elbow and peered down at the strange note.

"Of course, Minerva I was only being concerned about the well being of our students." Dumbledore seethed on the inside at his subordinate questioning his motives for what he was doing. It was his school after all; he should be allowed to do what he pleased.

"That is true, Professor. If anything evil came into the school, would you know about it?" Harry seemed to have taken an interest in the conversation and put his hands behind his back slowly as he concentrated on the two professors before him.

"Of course, Harry. You have nothing to worry about within the walls of this castle." Dumbledore patted the young man on the head and then turned to leave, still clutching the note in his hand. He wanted to analyze it a little more along with the images that he had gotten from the boy's mind.

"Professor, may I have my experimental calculus work back?" Harry held out his hand towards the professor expecting the note that the crafty old man had slid into his pocket by now.

"Experimental Calculus?" Minerva seemed a little unnerved by the prospect of such a thing.

"It is an advanced form of mathematical calculations that include the fourth and fifth dimensional constants. I've been working on it in my spare time." Harry spoke plainly while keeping his eyes on Dumbledore the entire time. The rest of the people around him seemed to have glazed over expressions as he smiled.

Snatching the note out of Dumbledore's hand Harry had to smile and started to move out of the Great Hall towards the first lesson of the day. It would be several full minutes before anyone figured out that he had left and that the note was now gone from Dumbledore's hand. It was at this point that the aging man groaned and turned on his heel to go back up to his office and brood some more; he had gotten into the habit of doing this almost every time he had an encounter with the young Mister Potter.

Harry, after leaving the Great Hall, had headed down towards the dungeons for his potions lesson, pulling the black book bag over his shoulder and giving a soft smile. It was fun to torment with people's minds and to leave them wondering what he was talking about and it seemed to be even easier with some of these people as they had never heard of some of the things that he was talking about. It would soon be time for the Halloween feast and then it would be time for him to make his move, but it would have to be a calculated risk on his part as well.

"Potter, you're late." Professor Snape sneered at his least favorite student as he looked up from gazing at the clock. It was a full ten seconds after the chime had gone, but in essence he was right.

"Professor Dumbledore had something to speak to me about." Harry slid down into a seat next to Neville, ignoring the waving and pathetic whimpering of Ron Weasley near the back of the class.

"Five points from Gryffindor for your arrogance. You would have a note if the Headmaster was speaking with you." Snape swept down from his position at the head of the class to stalk the rows of frightened students, all except Harry for some reason. Harry simply looked bored, but still concentrated on him.

As the Potions Master swept past the small boy he could detect a small hint of something. He felt almost as if there was more to the boy than meets the eye and he noticed Harry fiddling with a gold ring on his right hand before the feeling diminished. Waving off the feeling he moved around the rest of the room stalking between the aisles and glaring down at the incompetent Gryffindor while praising the Slytherin students. Much to his dismay, however, Potter was still able to produce an adequate potion by the end of the lesson leaving him wondering where the boy had been cheating.

XoXo

Halloween day was always one of Harry's most favorite holidays. Of course it was a little morbid to like the day dedicated to death and ghosts, but it was what had happened to him over the years in conjunction with certain holidays that made him this way. He was sad to learn of his birth parents deaths on Halloween and always visited their graves on this specific day no matter when they had ended up, but over the years he had started to appreciate the day more for what it really was. It was truly a day for magic both in the muggle sense and in the magical world.

This time the day itself dawned cold and gloomy. Storm clouds had gathered over the night and were threatening an awful downpour later in the evening. Harry had disappeared early in the morning and then come back to spend the rest of the day with his friends going through classes and the like; the teachers had taken a liking to the holiday as well and would teach interesting spells or potions specific to the holiday. The students learned the levitation charm and used it to move pumpkins around the classroom; a transfiguration spell that made an object glow from within.

The only professor that didn't seem to really enjoy the holiday itself was Professor Snape. He refused to teach anything that he considered "silly dribble worthy of muggles" and instead concentrated on the nearly impossible curriculum that he had outlined at the beginning of the year. To everyone else this seemed callus and even a little underhanded, but Harry knew the truth as to why the professor hated this particular holiday and wasn't about to share it with anyone else.

It was on the day of Halloween itself that something began to really occur. It had started off with the normal classes and Snape scowling down at the rest of the students like he hated them all, but it was something in the air that had sparked conversations as well as a few verbal sparing matches. The least notable of course came from the usual Malfoy/Weasley banter back and forth that had become almost a regular side-show for the rest of the school. The most notable, however, was not between two people, but a large group.

"You're still a freak." The voice of one of the girls rang out through the entrance hall attracting the attention of several people.

The entrance hall was unusually packed full of people and it wasn't any work of divination to figure out why. In the middle of the hall nearest to the dungeons stood a large group of people; two on one side and another four on the other. All of the people were girls and the ones on the majority all wore Slytherin robes and seemed to be facing off with two girls, one a fellow Slytherin and one a Ravenclaw.

"Couldn't find any real friends in our house, had to go out to another?" The tallest girl seemed to be the leader and was standing with her hands on her hips staring down at the two first years. She was around five feet ten inches tall with a mass of black hair that tangled near the top and then moved along her shoulders.

"She's got a friend, that's what matters." The Ravenclaw girl, bushy brown hair, retorted.

"She can't make any real friends, mudblood." Another of the girls jumped into the conversation causing the small first year Slytherin girl to get upset.

"At least I don't have to pay her to like me." Daphne threw back to the group.

"You're just a little blood traitor, I hope that your mudblood mother enjoyed being tortured to death. She's where she belongs now, dead!" The girl shouted for the entire hall to hear.

"You take that back, you bitch!" Daphne showed a rare form of emotion as she started to tear up at the edges of her eyes.

"Aw, is the little traitor going to cry?" The girls all laughed loudly as Daphne pushed through the crowd of people and fled down the hallway towards the nearest bathroom, Hermione chasing after her.

As is usual with things happening around the school, the teachers were only a few seconds too late to intervene on anyone's behalf. "What is going on here?" Snape drawled as he swept into the entrance hall.

"Nothing Professor, we were just dealing with a few blood traitors." The leader of the group sneered at the crowd daring anyone to contradict her.

Since it was close to the time of the feast the rest of the school disappeared back into the Great Hall. Neville and Harry came down from Gryffindor Tower expecting to see their friends waiting for them as they came into the Great Hall looking around for the rest of the foursome that had been created. After a while they didn't see the girls and decided to ask around to try and get an idea as to what might have happened.

"Got into a right row with some Slytherin girls, they did." Seamus Finnigan provided as he stuffed more potatoes and gravy into his mouth.

"Good riddance, I say. Those girls were becoming a bad influence on you two. You should be out playing Quidditch and chess, not studying late in the library." Ron scuffed, even though no one had asked him.

Harry was about to open his mouth to tell Ron just what he thought of his theory of life when Professor Quirrel burst into the hall and ran up the central aisle screaming. "Troll! In the dungeons…" He then proceeded to faint right away.

Now, the student body of Hogwarts, being made up of children between the ages of eleven and seventeen are an easily frightened lot. When they heard that a creature that they had been studying, mostly inadequately, had been found within the castle there was complete chaos. Harry pulled Neville aside as the rest of the school was panicking and slipped out the still open doors to the Great Hall.

"We have to find the girls, I have an idea." Harry whispered as they moved down the hall towards the nearest girl's bathroom. They could already hear the rest of the school moving back towards their dormitories from the Great Hall; it was unlikely that they would be discovered missing for some time.

Stopping at the door to the girl's toilet, Neville pushed it open only a crack and called in. "If there's anyone in there, you need to get out now. Supposedly there's a troll running around in the dungeons and we need to get back to our dormitories." The last few weeks spending time with Harry and the girls had really done wonders for Neville's self esteem, not to mention the magical boost that he had gotten.

The two girls in question, one with flowing black hair and the other with bushy brown hair, both stuck their heads out of the toilet at the same time. Their eyes were puffy red and it seemed like they had been crying on each other's shoulders as there were wet spots on Daphne's right and Hermione's left. They seemed confused for a moment before slipping out of the bathroom and looking at the boys to figure out if what Neville had said was real or not. This of course was proven moot when there was a roar from a few yards down the hallway.

A fully grown mountain troll usually stands at about eighteen feet, hunched over that is. The hallways of Hogwarts were always lavish and grand, owing to the personalities that they housed, and were thus over fifteen feet in height. The mountain troll now staring down at the four eleven year old children was stooping quite heavily to fit in the hallway and seemed to be dragging a large tree trunk behind it. The beady yellow eyes stared at the children for a moment and then bellowed loudly at them again, rumbling the stones of the walls.

The four young magic users stared at the troll for a split second before, as a group, sprinting back up the hallway towards the entrance hall. Without looking behind them, they could hear the thumping stomps of the trolls' footsteps getting closer. They rounded a corner and came to the entrance hall, empty of both professors and students. Taking another corner around the edge of the hall they passed into the other wing of the castle, still hearing the loud thumping of the troll behind them.

A crash behind them sent bricks of stone and mortar flying past their bodies as they continued to run. Up another corridor and down another, twisting and turning through the passageways attempting to loose the large beast, but it still kept after them. As the foursome rounded another corner they came into the main stairwells of Hogwarts, the stairs already twisting out of the way and preventing their movements. Harry could see a lone figure up along one staircase moving towards the third floor corridor.

The figure swept purple and black robes up the stairs and Harry stood transfixed as he watched the older man disappear through a large thick wooden door. He was pulled out of the way just as the large club smashed into the wall above his head. Stumbling slightly he gripped the hand that had saved him and continued running up the next passage and then down another. At the end, however there was a solid stone wall, a dead end.

"Why are there even dead ends in this castle?" Neville searched frantically around the base and the sides to see if the wall was indeed solid.

Spinning around the children could see the troll rounding the last corner and starting to come their way. It was lumbering slower than before owing to the large physical exercise that it had already gotten from chasing the four down, but it was still coming close. The last doorway on the hallway was an unused classroom that the troll had just passed, still twenty feet from them. Harry looked left and right, standing before his friends as he looked over his shoulder at them; giving a heaving sigh he made the decision.

"When I say so, close your eyes and don't open them."

"What?" Hermione and Daphne both screamed at once.

"Just do it, I have a plan." The edges of Harry's eyes started to glow golden and he could feel a strange sensation from deep within him; it felt like the anxiousness of a child waiting Christmas morning mixed with the fierce protectiveness of a mother bear.

The troll continued to come closer to the four friends and raising its club above its head. "Now!" Harry shouted. Without even waiting to see if his friends did what they were told he followed it up with a hissing sound that was barely heard by those around him.

Instantly once the hiss was heard the wall on the left side of the passageway exploded outward spraying the ground with bits of stone and mortar work. A large green blur passed by the friends standing before the troll and slammed into the large grey body threatening the four first years. The green mass forced the grey body of the troll through the next wall and into another corridor before it disappeared through a large hole in the floor that had appeared. Bluish grey blood flew from the body of the troll when it was hit and sprayed the walls of the corridor before it disappeared. The entire incident had happened so fast that the children barely had time to realize what had happened.

"You can open your eyes." Harry groaned.

"Harry, you sound really tired for some reason." Hermione opened her eyes and gasped at the destruction before her. Peeking through the hole in the left wall she couldn't see any remains of the troll left only streaks of blood.

"What the bloody hell did you do!?" Daphne screamed.


	8. Four to Doomsday

The full moon cast an unearthly glow across the dark forest, the singular beams of light flitting between the leaves and bouncing from branch to branch. What little light made it down to the forest floor showed a twisted mass of roots and fallen leaves, of nearly a foot of debris from the trees above that would fall periodically. The moon also illuminated a small clearing in the middle of the forest, innocuous in the middle of nothingness and a mass of plant life around it.

The clearing was a perfect circle of twenty feet across with nothing more than high grass. All of the trees and other plants had been removed and even branches that once reached out into the pristine space were cut off at the edge, leaving a browning stump. The grass that the clearing was comprised of was cut away near the center around a small ring of stones. The ring was approximately six inches high and two feet in diameter across. Within a roaring fire gave off flickering orange light to the four human occupants of the clearing.

Seated on stumps of trees and various large rocks around the roaring fire were four friends. Two men and two women sat around the fire in perfect harmony with one another and with their surroundings, not giving any thought to the dangers that might lurk just beyond the protected borders of their clearing. One man poked at the fire with a stick, stoking the flames higher as another set a spit to roast with a large plucked bird.

"Must we eat that thing? It's barbaric." One of the women spoke in a haughty tone, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at the offensive animal.

"We are out in the wilderness, dear." The man stoking the fire smiled.

"Don't you go calling me that again, it was bad enough when our apprentice was among us….such disrespect…"

"He did promise to return someday. Maybe by then he'll have some new insults for you." The other woman smiled and pulled back her bushy hair a little to stare into the flames of the fire.

"You only liked him for what his father could do." The man at the spit quipped as he rotated the bird a few more times, making sure the meat was nice and brown on the outside.

"Is it so bad that I enjoy a good conversationalist? And think about what he did for us…."

"We were never to talk of that night again, sister dear." The haughty woman spoke in a small hushed tone, her eyes glancing at the border of the clearing for a moment and then focusing on the others present. "You remember what he said…."

"Yes, yes, we all remember that night very well indeed." The man with the stick poked the fire again and then set it down, leaving the end to fizzle out in the dirt. "It really hasn't been that long ago, but my we change much in those intervening years."

"I sometimes wonder if what he said was true." The second woman pulled her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth on the stump she was sitting on.

"I'm sure it was, he seemed very knowledgeable about everything." The man at the spit rotated the bird a few more times and then pulled it off the flames. "Dinner's ready."

The other man rubbed his hands together and then blew into them creating a small vortex of wind. The vortex slipped from his fingers and levitated the spit off the fire and out of the other man's hands. The spit slowly revolved in the air in the vortex as pieces of the carcass came off and landed in the laps of those seated around the fire.

"Stop showing off." The haughty woman took her wing and started to peel away pieces of the meat while the others took up their bits as well to feast on.

"Is it really so bad that I like doing things the easy way?" The man smiled as he dug into a leg, gnawing on the meat and the bone savagely.

"I just don't want us to become complacent, using magic here and there for everything. We can still use our hands and do some good old fashioned labor." The first woman ate primly as she spoke between bites.

"Good old fashioned labor? Who are you?" The second man smiled as he dug into a wing of his own, peeling off scraps and tossing them over his shoulder periodically.

The second woman giggled a little at the hurt look of the first. "He's just teasing, but you have to admit that you appear to be the last woman that would ever get her hands dirty." The other nodded and sighed a little.

"I'm not so bad…am I?"

The first man set aside his piece of meat on the rock he was sitting on and came to kneel by her side, gently taking her hand in his. "Listen, we've all come a long way from what we were before all this started. You remember a few years ago when you absolutely refused to even look at the three of us as equals, now we're out here eating a bird and we all live together in harmony." The other man snorted slightly and the others had to smile. "Well, relative harmony anyway."

"And what about you, P…" The second man started to speak only to be cut off by the second woman covering his mouth with her hand.

"Hush, you. The trees have ears, you know that as well as I." Sitting back down she sighed a little. "Yes, I admit that we were all vastly different then we are all now. I never imagined myself out here with you three for companions."

"Tell me about it. At any rate, we're all here together and we're doing exactly as he said that we would." The second man tore into the meat of the bird surveying the other three over the flickering light of the fire.

The first woman went rigid for a moment and then her eyes went out of focus. She seemed to be staring at the edge of the clearing just over the left of the other's shoulders, but the other three didn't turn to look. "All is falling into place as it should. The lonely god will return and bring with him the son. The companions will come together in the place that no longer exists." She shuddered and tipped forward into the arms of the man at her feet.

The man gently cradled her body for a moment and then picked her up completely. As he stood his other two companions did as well. The woman waved her hand and a bout of water sprouted from her fingers, dousing the fire to dust while the other man formed a fist and pushed it into the air. When he moved his hand the earth under the fire pit swarmed up and around the dying embers, slowly swallowing them completely.

"It's a good thing she's out, or she would be on us for using our abilities for such childish things." The man looked down at the woman he cradled in his arms against his chest and smiled as the others laughed.

Together the four friends moved to the edge of the clearing and slipped out into the wilderness beyond. As they passed the border between the two worlds the clearing seemed to flicker for a moment and then fade away, the gnarled roots of trees encroaching into the glade coming clear now as well as tree branches pushing at the borders. The perfect circle was no more, marred by the years of non-usage and simply waiting for the four friends to return.

As the moonlight was peeling away from the small scene of the four friends, it lit upon something else. Only a few hundred yards away from the small haven that had been created within the forest, the moonlight found something else to light upon. It was a small collection of stones, a large courtyard and battlements were just coming up and the unfinished towers could still be seen. By the light of the moon the still unfinished, and yet thriving, school of Hogwarts shone.

XoXo

The winter chill was now firmly established as it blew down from the mountains around the ancient castle of Hogwarts. On the wind were the smell of snow and the changing of the leaves, but as well as the harsh reality of a winter in the mountains and in the north of the country could be. It was the time of year that most everyone at the venerable school dreaded for the drafty hallways and the unbearable chill that permeated the very air. Most especially was the absolutely barbaric wait between the Halloween feast and the start of the winter holidays near the end of December.

"I think that the Christmas holidays should be pushed up to the middle of December, maybe even include the entire month all the way through to the New Year." Neville grumbled one afternoon.

The small quartet of friends had become even closer after the incident with the troll only a few weeks prior. The staff had questioned them naturally, but no one had actually seen anything bar Harry and he wasn't saying a word. In private he did tell the others that he had merely called on someone that took care of the troll and he didn't do anything to it. The others were placated by this, but it was still interesting to hear the rumors surrounding the entire incident.

On par with most of the Hogwarts gossip about ninety-eight percent of what went around was pure speculation and fantasy, but there was still a kernel of truth buried under all of it. Even if most of the students perpetrating the rumors had no idea of that kernel of truth. The professors were trying to spin their own version of events saying that the troll never was in the castle and that it had simply been a shadow that had spooked the poor stuttering professor.

The students of course didn't take to this story and instead weaved stories of their own involving intrigue and their own cast of characters. The most interesting story so far had been that a group of seventh years from all four houses had teamed up to defeat the troll, dumping the body in the lake for the squid to feast on. Of course, this got the most play simply because of the impossibility of a Gryffindor and a Slytherin seventh year to really work together. A smaller rumor had also gotten some circulation about Harry Potter going up against the troll single-handedly, but this soon died out in favor of the more theatrical version of events.

"There's so many things that we have to get done before the holidays. I couldn't possibly take an entire month off of school work." Hermione clutched her books to her chest as the foursome walked to the Defense room where three of their number had class.

"Relax, Hermione, if break ever was a month long the professor would just assign double the amount of work." Daphne smiled as the two boys of their group groaned. The pair of girls had gotten closer over the few weeks since the Halloween incident and had talked about what had happened in even great depth.

Reaching the door to the defense classroom Daphne, Harry and Neville slipped into the room as Hermione went off towards her charms lesson. As the bell rang signaling the start of the class period the three friends found their seats and prepared for another long and annoying class period. It had become a joke to most of the school that Quirrel could still teach after stuttering through most of his lessons and generally afraid of his own subject.

This class period wasn't any different, however halfway through it, Harry's eyes started to droop and almost fall asleep. As he brought his focus back on the present his eyes were resting near the floor and the hem of the Professor's robes. Focusing more on the robes Harry could see a small collection of blood on the bottom of them, and indeed when he looked up the Professor winced as he moved around the classroom.

Harry watched as the Professor winced and limped a little around the room, finally settling on sitting down behind his desk. The class didn't seem to notice anything, but most were trying not to pay attention to the stuttering professor, or attempting to just stay awake through the garlic fumes permeating the classroom. When the class finally let out, Harry hurried next to Neville whom was still shaking off the effects of the garlic.

"Neville, did you notice anything off about Professor Quirrel?"

"No more so than usual, why, did you see something?" Neville leaned against one of the walls for support as he took long slow breaths.

"Yeah, he looked like he was limping a little and I thought there might be blood on the bottom of his robes."

"You think we should tell one of the other teachers? McGonagall might listen to us if we approach her in the right fashion."

"I'm not sure it is really all that important, sure he's injured, but if it was really bad he would have gone to the hospital wing, right? I think we should look into it ourselves for the time being." Harry smiled a little and grabbed his friend's arm, pulling him along towards the Great Hall for lunch.

The Great Hall was as chaotic as it always was, students rushing to and from class, a few with some books propped up on pitchers to study and even more taking a mid-afternoon snooze in their food. Harry pulled Neville past all of this to a small isolated section of the Gryffindor table towards the end nearest to the doors. Seating himself down on the very end he pulled his friend down beside him before going into what he had seen the night of the troll incident.

"I think, as we were running, I saw Professor Quirrel heading up to that third floor corridor."

"The one that's supposed to be restricted to students?" Neville picked up on as he started to load his plate with various bits of food on the table.

"Yes, and that's something else that bothers me about this whole affair….." Harry started, but was cut off by the arrival of their dorm mate, the thick headed red haired one.

"Harry, how are you doing, mate?" Ron clapped him on the shoulder and attempted to push Neville out of the spot next to Harry.

"Weasley, for the last time, I'm not your mate, and Neville was enjoying lunch with me just now." Harry pushed the offense redhead out of the way, and Neville resumed his seat as both stared up at the third person.

"Ah, come on, Longbottom doesn't mind, do you?" Not waiting for a response he continued. "Plus I was going to ask if you wanted to come to my house for the holidays, I know it's still a little ways off, but I thought you would want to have a good family Christmas."

"Not really. I usually spend my Christmas' with my dad traveling around. He did promise me that we would stay within the vicinity of England this year, but I can't be sure of that." Neville gave him an odd look as Harry smiled a little.

"Come on, please? Mum always makes the most wonderful food and plenty of it as well, plus I know my family would love to have you over." Ron had his hands clasped before him and was on the verge of falling to a kneeling just to get an answer.

Harry was saved in the form of his Ravenclaw friend coming up behind the small trio and putting a hand on Harry and Neville's shoulder. "Actually, I think both boys might be spending the holidays with me. I asked my parents and they were thrilled to hear that I might have friends visit, so I'm sorry that I already asked them, Ron."

Ron pouted for a moment and then turned away from the new trio of friends, seating himself a little ways down the table from the others with his brothers. The pair of twin boys were lively enough to get by on and Harry found himself liking the two regardless of whom they were unfortunately related to. Harry smiled up at Hermione as she slid down across from them, blending in with the rest of the students.

"I thought you two could use an out. I saw you trying to turn him down, but with how pathetic he looks sometimes its really hard. I heard that he's even starting in early on some of the girls." She picked up an apple off the table and bit into it, keeping up with her monologue. "Anyway, what I said was true; you're both more than welcome to join me and my parents on Christmas day, Daphne as well."

Neville shifted a little, staring down at his plate for a moment. "I usually have plans with my Gram for the actual day, but I might be able to swing by a little later though."

"My dad and I always have a rather eventful Christmas; you might not want us around." Harry smiled a little and then slipped a piece of fruit into his mouth, swallowing before he continued. "But I will ask him when we get back to the station in London if he wants to swing by."

"Of course I'll want you around, Harry. You're one of my best friends, my only…" Hermione paused and stared at the plate before her, a small tear starting at her eye. Harry started to reach across to comfort her, but Neville beat him to it, gently placing his hand over the girl's.

"Hermione, we're your friends now and it doesn't matter what happened in the past. I'm just glad that we're friends now, and truth be told I didn't have many before starting school either." Harry smiled at Neville for a moment and then nodding.

"Friends to the end, no matter what. I'm just glad it didn't take some stupid incident like the troll for us to be friends." The other's laughed for a moment and he grinned. "Can you imagine it, being friends just because we were all run off by a troll together?" He shook his head and smiled again. "At any rate, I would like to spend the holidays not being chased or attacked for once."

Hermione furrowed her brow for a moment and then opened her mouth to speak. "Attacked…what have you…" She was stopped in mid-question by the arrival of the last member of the group.

Daphne looked around slightly as she approached the Gryffindor table. She wouldn't stay and sit with them, she never did, but she would stand there and talk to them for a few minutes at a time. It was one of the main reasons that the group took the end of the tables, no matter which one they sat at. It was by unspoken agreement that sitting at the end of either the Ravenclaw or Gryffindor tables allowed for their wayward friend to have a space to talk, but still duck out if need be.

"Hey guys. Discussing Christmas plans already?"

Harry smiled and looked up just as the owls came into the Great Hall. Hedwig was easily spotted in the sea of brown feathers as she flitted down to her master and landed on his shoulder, thrusting out her leg to show how proud she was of the letter attached.

"You're such a good owl, you know that Hedwig?" Harry preened her feathers for a moment as he untied the letter. The owl cooed and nipped at his fingers affectionately while he pulled the scroll off.

"Who keeps writing to you, Harry?" Hermione asked in between bites of eggs and toast.

"My dad for one, I get letters from him as well as a few others every so often. My Aunts and Uncles aren't used to owl post so Hedwig goes to them when they need her." Harry unrolled the parchment, looked it over and smiled, Hedwig seeming to read it along with him over his shoulder.

It was here that Harry first noticed that several other owls were hopping up and down on the table before the small group of friends. The owls ranged from the impressive eagle owl down to the smallest tawny brown owl; even an old owl that listed slightly back and forth and seemed to be ready to fall over into the goblet of orange juice at any moment. Harry started to untie the letters from each of the owls as the others started to do the same.

"This one is an invitation to spend the holidays with some family named Diggle." Neville announced after unrolling one of the scrolls.

"Here's one from the Weasley family." Hermione had helped the old owl get down off the table and relieved of the scroll it had flopped down next to her in a light doze.

"Macmillan….Zabini….Edgecomb…Chang…wow, even Malfoy." Daphne was flipping through several of the invites at once, each owl hopping up and down to be the next to be relieved of it's burden.

"All of these people want Harry to visit them for Christmas?" Neville asked, scratching one of the owls behind a wing joint.

"No, these families want The-Boy-Who-Lived to come to their houses for Christmas. I doubt I've said a handful of words to any of their children here at Hogwarts, and no offense to Slytherin, but some of those are rather dark families." Harry sighed a little and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I plan to spend the holidays with my family, thank you very much."

"I won't take offense to it because my mother wrote to me this morning asking about you. It seems she forgot about the encounter with your father in Diagon Alley and wants you two to visit at some point." Daphne sighed and scooped up the nearest goblet before downing the pumpkin juice.

"Oh, that reminds me." Hermione smiled as she turned to her new female friend. "You're invited to my family's house for Christmas as well. Harry said that he might be able to come, but Neville already has plans. I was hoping that you could stay for a while and we could…" Hermione flushed slightly and looked down at the floor.

"Do girl things?" Daphne smiled. "I've had a few sleepovers, Hermione; I know the usual protocol for these things. I'll bring the ever-lasting tubs of ice cream if you want to get some cheesy muggle romance movies." Both girls smiled as the boys shook their heads at the pair of them.

"Anyway, what do you think I should do with these?" Harry had collected the various invitations and waved them around.

"I think you should do the proper thing and decline them in person; it might have more of an impact to the family if you do." Neville thought it over for a moment. "At least that's what I've been told I'm to do with marriage contracts I don't like."

"Marriage contracts, you're only eleven?" Hermione looked at Neville with wide eyes as Harry gathered up the notices to look over the individual names.

"I think it's supposed to be for the future. I am from a prominent pureblood family, and most families still do it like that. I imagine Harry might start getting them soon, if not already." Harry groaned and shuddered a little.

"My last birthday was nightmare of post, you have no idea." He said a little offhanded as he pulled a notice out. "I don't even think there is a Diggle in school."

"Does no one marry for love?" Hermione sighed a little staring down at her plate.

"Hermione don't worry, it's not really like that. No one really expects a marriage contract to go through. A few of the older and more dark families still use them to gain political power, but I know that many matches are still made the old-fashioned way."

"It's easier for some of the purebloods to use contracts to secure a political ally then trying to do it themselves. I've heard horror stories in the common room about seventh years having to find boyfriends just to get out their contracts." Daphne shivered a little.

"Got it." Harry held up the small stack of invites that he planned to turn down. "I've ordered each by house, as well as I can figure it out, and I'm going to take care of this right now."

Standing up, Harry went down the Gryffindor table and handed over two invites to the Weasleys and another boy with blonde hair. Both seemed to be ok with the turn down and after a few short words Harry smiled and moved down to the Ravenclaw table, handing over invites there as well. Chang looked offended for being turned down, but accepted it nonetheless with a completely red face; her friend Marietta laughed about it and smiled when she got hers back.

The most interesting by far was when Harry had to go down the line of Slytherin house and hand out the invites that he had turned down. Under the baleful glare of their head of House, Slytherin was treated to a smiling and nice Harry Potter walking among them handing out slips of parchment. The first went to a striking black haired first year girl that smiled upon receipt of the letter and the words and then went back to eating. Malfoy looked completely incensed that his father would do such a thing and indeed stormed out of the hall with the parchment in hand followed by his two bookends Crabbe and Goyle.

XoXo

The red and black steam engine of the Hogwarts Express easily slipped into the hidden platform of nine and three quarters. The students were already ready to go, most of them lining the interior hallways of the train with their things packed and ready to go. The four friends were the only one's still seated and were discussing what they were going to do for the next few days that they would have off from school. As the train came to a complete stop and the people started to pile out, however they moved fluidly out of the compartment and down off the train as a group.

"You are coming over for a few days, aren't you?" Hermione asked to Daphne as the two girls stepped off the train and onto the platform.

"My mother wouldn't even notice that I'm gone." Daphne looked down a little and then back to her friend with a soft smile. "Plus, I can't wait to see what the muggles do for the holidays; I've never been with some for it."

"Oh, you'll love it." Hermione slung an arm comfortably around Daphne's shoulders as the two walked towards the barrier and into the muggle world. Before leaving however they turned and hugged their two male friends, Daphne getting Harry and Hermione getting a blushing Neville. "You two will have to visit sometime, all right."

Harry was stopped from replying when a large mass of red hair came moving through the throngs of people towards him. At the head was the portly woman that he had seen earlier in the year asking about him before he had gotten on the train. She was leading a man in a tattered robe by the arm and he seemed to be protesting under his breath.

"Ah, there you are, Harry dear, Ron told us that you might be traveling with your other friends." The woman looked over the girls with disgust and Neville with pity. "Come along, it's a good trip to the Burrow, so we best get started."

The men around her looked at the platform ground, all except for Ron whom was looking at Harry with wide eyes. "Ma'am, I'm not sure if your sons have told you yet, but I turned down your invitation. I'm spending the holidays with my guardian and my friend, Hermione here." He waved to indicate his friends around him.

"Oh, that silly thing, Arthur told me it was a bad idea, but I had to keep up pretenses. Professor Dumbledore himself wrote to me and said that you were adamant about spending the time with us, but couldn't say so in public. I mean, it makes sense what with you and Ron being such good friends and all." Here she ruffled the hair of the young man standing next to her, missing the dark looks passing over the four friend's faces and scowling at the eleven year old before them. "He asked us personally to come and collect you from the platform when you arrived of course."

"Ah, Mrs. Weasley again!" The booming voice came across the emptying platform as a man in a great brown coat that swept the floor came towards them. He was wearing a prim looking brown suit with a tie and red trainers as he came across the platform. Striding up towards them he slipped on a pair of brown glasses and smiled. "Mrs. Weasley, so nice to see you again."

"Oh, Auror Smith, I didn't see you there." The woman smiled at the newcomer and bowed her head. "Still undercover I see." She whispered to him.

The man smiled and turned his side towards Harry and his friends, giving him a wink. "Why of course, ma'am, there are all sorts of unsavory characters around here today." He moved and put his arm around Harry's shoulders. "Speaking of which, I was asked to escort young Mister Potter here outside the barrier to his guardians whom are waiting for him outside."

"I was told by Professor Dumbledore to expect him at our home this holiday." Molly Weasley looked a little put out as she glanced back and forth from the older man to the small boy next to him.

Smith moved forward and produced something from under his coat and showed it to the woman. It was a black leather pad of paper that he showed her and smiled confidently. "Here are the orders from the Ministry itself stating that I'm to take Harry into my protective custody to see that he is delivered to his guardians in a timely manner."

Misses Weasley looked over the pad of paper and then sighed, waving the rest of her family to move behind her. As the sea of redheads moved away, Harry caught sight of the only girl in their mix. She was staring intently at him and he shivered a little as she broke eye contact to scurry after her mother. Harry hid his laughter as he turned to the man in the coat once the group of witches and wizards was out of earshot.

"Auror Smith?"

"Well, I had to tell her something. When I got your call I headed back to the platform and this wild woman…well, I'll explain later. For the time being I think we should get the rest of you to your parents and such." The man smiled and looked at the others.

"Uhm….Harry…" Neville and Hermione turned towards their other two fiends whom were smiling at them.

"Don't worry, guys, its cool. This is my dad; he just has a strange way of making friends." Harry laughed as the man looked a little hurt.

"Oi, pulled you out of a few scraps or two, if I remember right; saved your hide a few times as well."

"Don't pay any attention to those two." Daphne smiled and hugged her three friends as she rushed off through the crowd towards a stern faced looking woman. The witch looked over the collected group for a moment before pulling Daphne by the arm away from the platform and towards the public Floo connections.

"I see my Gram down a little ways. I'll send word if we can do something on Boxing day if you want." Neville hesitated for a moment and then gave the other two a hug, lasting longer on Hermione. When the two parted both were blushing slightly as Neville moved away with his trunk towards an older woman with a vulture perched up on her hat.

"Come on, you two, get the lead out." Mister Smith led the way through the crowd on the platform towards the barrier and vanished through it before the two children had even gotten there.

On the other side of the magical barrier between London's King's Cross station and the magical corridor that would get students back and forth to school was a drastic difference. On the muggle side there were smells, sounds, and even a few feelings in the air as people moved from one place to the other. Mister Smith was already standing against the brick column across from the barrier with his hands in the brown coat that he wore.

"Amazing things, you know." He smiled and said as he pushed off the column.

"What do you mean, sir?" Hermione asked, pushing the trolley before her as they started to walk away from the small space between platforms nine and ten.

"I mean all of this." Smith spun in a circle to take everything in. "I mean, when people normally see a group of people seeming emerge out of nowhere, what you think their reaction would be." He paused for a second and smiled. "Absolutely nothing, they just move on with their lives, it's the same if they see something they might think is out of place."

"As I remember, Uncle Jack said you used the same argument for…" Harry broke off as they had come around a corner and Hermione had rushed ahead.

A man and woman stood at the end of the main platform waiting for the arrival of their daughter. The pair didn't look out of place at all with the man wearing a beige cardigan over some jeans and black polished shoes. He had the same brown hair that his daughter had, but was more manageable, lying flat against his head and falling down the back in smooth waves. Perched on his nose was a pair of glasses as he twisted around his wife to see their daughter arriving.

The woman was a more mature looking version of Hermione complete with the bushy mane of hair. Her hair was more of a black color than her daughter or husband, but still frizzed out slightly and was pulled back into a small ponytail to keep it manageable. She was also dressed more comfortably with black slacks and a yellow blouse. Peeking out from under the hem of her pants, however, were the points and sharp heel of some pumps.

"Mum, Dad!" Hermione flew into the arms of her parents, each getting in a good hug from their enthusiastic daughter before turning to the newcomers approaching. "I would like you meet my friend Harry and his Dad…oh….I didn't catch your first name, sir." Here the little girl blushed, but the man smiled.

"Oh, I've used lots of names, but I'm Smith, John Smith, or Doctor Smith depending on whom I'm talking to."

"What a coincidence, my parents are also Doctors."


	9. The Three Doctors

A/N: I apologize for not getting this up faster, but I've been working on a series of one-shots that have turned into very long stories in their own right. I should be posting this in conjunction with a new chapter for Rise of the Dark Queen as well. As always, I do not own any of this except maybe the plot; no, I don't even own the chapter titles.

"Speak" – Normal speech

_Speak_ – Internal thoughts

/: _Speak _:/ - Magical languages translated

The man and woman came forward and offered up their hands to the strange man before them. After each shook his hand they stepped back to take a look at the young man that had not said a word thus far. Harry was still an awkward child and would mostly stay out of social situations when he could help it, but staring into the faces of Hermione's parents he simply smiled and gave a small wave.

"Hello, Doctor Grangers."

"Please, call us David and Karen, it's the least that we can do for Hermione's first…" Mister Granger gave a soft exhale of breath as his wife had thrust her elbow into his stomach. Both smiled a little as he rubbed at the spot in his side where she had hit. "That is to say, it's wonderful to meet some of Hermione's friends from school."

"Oh, that reminds me mum." Hermione moved to her mother side and patiently tugged on her sleeve waiting for the attention to shift back towards her. "I was wondering if my friend Daphne would be able to spend a few days with us over the holidays. She wants to experience Christmas on the…uh…." Glancing around quickly leaned in close and whispered the final part of the sentence. "…non-magical side, that is."

"It's good to hear that you're making friends, dear." David ducked out of the way of his wife's errant elbow again and smirked at her, but got smacked with the other arm for his good measure.

"That's fine with us, dear, but how will she be arriving, do you know?" Hermione's face fell as she considered what she was going to do about not only getting Daphne to their house, but inviting her as well.

As Harry was standing nearby he moved up and started to whisper in his dad's ear. The adult had to bend down to listen to him for a moment and then shook his head, giving his hand a slight wave in the direction of the train platform that they were still standing on. Giving a nod Harry disappeared around a corner into a small isolated spot where he wouldn't be seen. A flapping of wings could be heard before he came out with a snowy white owl perched on his shoulder.

"What a lovely bird." Karen leaned down and lightly stroked Hedwig's head, rubbing her fingers under her beak. The owl pressed her head tighter into the woman's touch, hooting softly.

"Harry, would you mind…" Hermione bit her lip as she looked from her friend to the owl perched on his shoulder.

Harry smiled and nodded his head. "You can use her to deliver your messages and to keep in contact with Daphne." Turning his head he whispered something into the owl's ear. After a moment she leaned her head down towards him, nipped his nose a little and flew over to land on Hermione's shoulder, nibbling on her ear affectionately.

"She seems very intelligent, Harry. Do all students at your school have their own owl for this purpose?" David moved towards his daughter and stroked the bird under a wing joint, eliciting a gentle cooing from the bird.

"No, sir. Most of the students use the school owls if they need anything." He glanced around at the crowded station and at the people that were starting to stare at the oddly dressed and small group on the platform. Indeed they had gathered quite a few eyes owing to the children's robes as well as the owl that was now bobbing its head up and down against an older man's hand.

"Well, I suppose we must be off now." Harry's dad clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention. "We have a rather full schedule to keep in the upcoming few days, but I promise to bring Harry by on Christmas if that is all right with the pair of you." He indicated the adults as the two moved away to converse slowly and in low tones with one another.

As her parents were talking, Hermione moved over to Harry and gave him a hug, careful not to jostle the owl that was still on her shoulder. "I'll see you sometime, even if they don't like you coming around on a special holiday. If I've got Hedwig though, how are you going to write to Neville and Daphne?"

Harry shrugged and smiled. "I've got my own ways of communication, but not to worry I'm sure Daph will be with you most of the holidays so there won't be much point in trying to write to her. You've got Hedwig if you want to send me something and I'll be around at some point to chat with you and exchange gifts."

Hermione's cheeks turned a bit red as she nodded. Her parents had come back and nodded as David was the chosen speaker for the pair. "I think that we can fit it into our normal schedule of events for the day. Would you be willing to drop by around dinner time, about seven o'clock?"

"What exactly do you have planned for us, Dad?" Harry eyed the adult standing next to him a little and put his hands on his hips. "Nothing like last year, I hope."

"Oy, you little bugger, those were some great tomatoes. Honestly, you go away for school and now you think that you can run the show."

"Yeah, right up until they formed teeth." Harry shook his head and then smiled. "We'll be there, not to worry." Moving forward he gave a hug to his small friend, causing her cheeks to turn red once again. "Have a great time with Daph over the holidays and maybe we can go see Nev on Boxing Day."

The small group had reached the exit by this point and congregated just outside the doors for everyone to say goodbye. The adults exchanged handshakes and promises to talk more when they were able to get together on Christmas Day. The Grangers were a little concerned about how their new friends were getting to where they needed, but Harry assured them that their transport was just around the corner. Harry gave another hug to Hermione and a pat to Hedwig before he joined his father in walking away from the small group.

As they turned the corner of the building Hermione remembered something she wanted to ask Harry about on the train. Rushing forward she heard a grinding noise and the whine of an engine, and reaching the corner of the building there was a rush of wind. Rounding the corner she stared at the empty street. It was a straight road about three blocks in length with no side-streets until the end of the train station where it curved off to the left back into the city.

The street had been completely empty. There was no sign of a car, no cars parked along the curb and nothing had turned down the small street since she had been standing there. Staring at the empty place where her friend had vanished she shrugged her shoulders and ran back to join her parents. The Grangers walked the short distance to the car park talking about the hidden world their daughter had just returned from.

XoXo

Harry Potter was a rather unusual child given his proclivity for magic, his knack of getting into tight spots, and his unusual method of celebrating the various holidays that not only the United Kingdom celebrated, but also some of the other cultures he had visited in his youth. A near constant on any of his travels was the celebration of Christmas and the rituals that came along with it. Nearly every Christmas, Harry and his dad, adopted father that is, would celebrate the holidays by doing a number of different things. Included in this would be a visit to his parent's grave site in Godric's Hollow, a walk through the sleepy village to the destroyed family home where he had spent the first year of his life, and one other thing.

This last bit of ritual that Harry and his father partake in every year had different incarnations since he could first join his dad on his missions. There was one constant in each of these variations on the same tune however, and it was on this particular Christmas day that he regretted it even more. For you see, every Christmas Day, wherever Harry Potter resided for only a few hours, he would be running for his life.

Harry rounded the corner of the dome shaped building and took off down the crooked street that lay before him. He dodged around the trash bins and pushed through the laundry that hung from the lines above his head and were draped down along the side of the street. He could hear the groaning and moaning of those things behind him, the creatures that had come after him once before. Turning a corner he skidded to a halt as a small crowd of them had gathered in front of him, blocking the next street over.

"You promised this time would be different." He yelled to no one in particular as he back pedaled and ran back down the street going the other direction. He passed the street he had been on and rounded another curve opening up onto the main square of the small village that they were staying at.

A blue wooden box stood at the center of the village, sand swirling around it from the wind that had been picked up late the last evening. A lone figure in a brown coat and red trainers stood before the box with a long silver cylinder two feet long and attached to a brown box about the size of a shoe box on the end of it. He swept it back and forth at the oncoming crowds and after a moment they seemed to be repulsed, pulling back away from the end of the cylinder.

"I told you to stay close to me, but do you listen. Honestly, sometimes I think you take after Martha and Jack in those respects." He called over his shoulder to Harry whom had just entered the square and was leaning on the blue box for support. "Five minutes, that's all I said, just five minutes and you were gone."

"Do you mind lecturing me on my conduct after we get out of here?" Harry leaned forward putting his hands on his knees as he breathed deeply through his mouth.

"The frequency oscillation isn't working like it did the last time, there's something blocking it." The end of the cylinder started to glow red for a moment before he hit the box at the bottom. "Behave, you or I'll be putting you away for good and making you into scrap metal. Harry, did you grab the…" He stopped as he turned around and saw Harry holding up a small silver cylinder with a small green dome on the top of it.

Harry moved forward and fingered the switch on the side of the cylinder, making the end of it slide forward and start to glow a small green color. He ran the green end down along the longer cylinder of the thing in his father's hands and then towards the box. As he did this it beeped a few times and he changed the setting, moving the dial near the bottom of the hand hold that he was gripping.

"Not working, not working." Harry's father hit the box and it hummed a little. "Did you try to reverse the polarity of the…"

"Yes, already done."

"What about the transcriptional rejuvenation circuits?"

Harry turned the dial a few more times and ran the green light over the box once more. By this time the crowd of creatures had moved forward and was lumbering into the square. Small groups of them were coming out of the buildings, down the sides of the streets and clogging the entrance ways into the small square. They pressed forward even as Harry let out a triumphant whoop and pulled back. Mister Smith set the box down on the ground and kicked it once.

The box shook slightly and then turned, forcing the barrel of the cylinder to point directly upwards from the ground. It shuddered for a moment and then shot a blue light from the end of the cylinder and into the sky forming a small blue dome that slowly spread across the arc of the sky. As the dome spread across the town square the creatures advancing on them slowed and then stopped completely, staring at the blue light that was moving up into the sky.

"Oh, brilliant, fantastic really. They modified the transmission range and the frequency." Slipping brown rimmed frames onto his face, Harry's dad looked down at the device. "That's why we couldn't get it to work initially; they were moving out of range, clever." Pulling the glasses off his face he slowly moved around the small contraption as Harry slipped the small metal cylinder back into his robes, panting slightly.

"Dad, we should be going now. It looks to be well in hand now."

As the creatures were staring up at the blue light it shone above them for a moment and then spread across the sky forming a dome that encompassed the entirety of the small village. The greenish features of each individual started too soft and turn redder with each passing second. Harry and the elder Smith slipped into the blue box that faded away with a small light upon it blinking on and off periodically. The box vanished in a rush of wind that kicked up sand around the area, but no one was paying any attention to the strange occurrence now.

Spinning and twirling endlessly through the night sky the wooden contraption slowed and then materialized gently onto the corner of a London street down a nearby alley way. Littering the alley were pieces of scrap and the dust bins overloaded with rubbish, spilling dirty diapers and last week's roast out onto the ground around them. The walls were covered in layers of tattered old posters advertisements for brand name soft drinks and popular music bands layered on top of political slogans shouting out "Vote Thatcher." Into this gloom the blue box stood against one of the walls with the doors facing outwards away from a large dumpster filled with bags of refuse.

Once the doors were open the pair of man and boy slipped out using their fingers to pinch their noses against the small. Locking the doors tight behind them they walked to the end of the small alley that emptied out onto a busy street where people moved here and there in all directions. People in suits passed by them and didn't give them a second glance even in Harry's identically copy of his father's brown ankle length duster and blue pinstripe suit.

"Blimey, are you sure we've got the right place?" Smith waved his hand in front of his face to get rid of the smell of the trash. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a long thin aerosol can and began to spray it in all directions.

"Before we left the train, this is the address that Hermione gave to the rest of us. It does look a little…" He shrugged as a woman rushed past them carrying several wrapped present. Most people had already been inside and were enjoying the holidays with family and spending as most time as they could with one another.

The street was relatively empty by the time they started to cross the street, the people rushing inside away from the slight chill that was in the air now. Crossing the street they looked up and down at the row of townhouses that were lining the street along the curb. They were relatively nice looking homes in their own right, smashed up against one another in an odd mismatched way with one porch bleeding into the next. Finding the stoop for number ten the pair moved up the steps and rang the bell. The windows were filled with paper cutouts of snowflakes and the railing decorated with garland, much as the same as the rest of the houses.

"You're a little early, you know." The door had been opened by the smiling face of Hermione, her hair sleeked back slightly and wearing makeup. She wore a festive green and red jumper that displayed a Christmas tree over top a pair of warm, and slightly faded, jeans. As she stepped inside the pair moved forward, Mister Smith pulling a grey fob watch from his pocket.

He tapped the watch with a finger and then shook it as he held it up next to his ear. "Really? Blasted thing must have gone on the fritz again, I always mean to fix it one of these days, you know. Hello." While he had been inspecting the watch the elder Grangers had appeared in the small foyer that was just at the front of the house.

"Welcome to our home, Mister Smith, Harry." Karen smiled warmly, tucking her hair behind her ear as she talked to them. Both parents were wearing matching sweaters of red and green with a snowman and a decorated tree.

"I feel a little over dressed." Harry looked down at the small suit that he wore, slipping off the brown ankle length duster and draping it over his arm. He smiled up at the adults and then looked towards his friend. "Is Daphne still here or did she head home to spend the day with her family?"

"She didn't want to leave, but her mum said that it was some kind of tradition for their family. Come on, I'll show you around." Hermione smiled as she grabbed Harry's hand and led him through the house.

The home was much bigger on the inside than was evident from the small front that faced the street. It had a complete kitchen furnished with stainless steel appliances and a large family room complete with warm brown leather furniture and a television in the corner. Harry could still see several video tapes strewn around the floor in front of it as well as a bowl of popcorn and two blankets near the couch. Before he could comment on it however, Hermione had shown him to the upstairs and into the bedrooms. There were a total of three of them, her room, her parents and a guest room that had its own access to the bathroom.

The master bedroom had its own bath, while Hermione and the guest room shared one. They didn't spend long in her room, only long enough for Harry to see the shelves and shelves of books that were stacked up towards the ceiling as well as the pink hangings on a white twin sized bed. A small window seat on the corner looked out onto the street below and was covered in a white cushion with several stuffed animals piled onto it.

While the children were busy running around the house, the adults went straight for the kitchen. Karen already had a kettle boiling on the range and pulled it off as it started to whistle. David grabbed another mug from a cabinet nearby and set it down on the island where he put another bag of tea into it as Karen started to pour the steaming water over top each of the mugs, careful not to spill a drop.

"I am sorry that we got here a little earlier than we said we would. Harry and I don't normally arrive early all things considered." Mister Smith smiled to the other two as he took a sip of the hot tea, setting his jacket down on the bar stool next to him while the Grangers sat down across the island from him.

"It's quite all right, Daphne had left only a little while ago and we were thinking of tidying up before you arrived." David waved it off a little as Karen smiled and nodded, sipping at the hot tea. "I had only hoped that we weren't keeping you from some of your own family traditions for the holidays."

Smith nodded as he sipped at the tea a little and then blew on it before he set it down. "Harry and I had already taken care of the important things that he wanted to do for the holidays before we had come here. We have a few traditions ourselves, one of which I know Harry dislikes quite a bit now that he's getting older."

The Grangers smiled and laughed a little. "Yes, well, our children grow up so fast they think that they know everything." Karen shook her head a little. "It amazes me sometimes how fast Hermione has grown up, now she's going to school and before too long we'll have to worry about boys."

"Not too soon, I dear hope." David smiled and sipped at the tea. "One of our family's traditions that we're going to hold onto for as long as she does tolerate us will be these." He indicated the sweaters that he and his wife were wearing.

"Every year, the same outfits." Karen shook her head a little. "Sometimes I wonder about the sanity of your mother giving a twelve year old girl a hand knitted jumper every year." The adults smiled at that and finished off the first cup of tea. Karen moved to pour another, but Smith beat her to it.

"Do you have any unusual traditions that you do every Christmas with Harry?" David pushed his mug down the side of the island so that it was closer to the stove. Smith hesitated for a moment and then finished pouring the tea out, letting the bag seep for a moment as he put the kettle back on the range.

"We try to visit Harry's parents twice a year, normally on Halloween and Christmas." Sitting back down he rolled the mug between his hands as the Grangers looked from him to each other.

"He's adopted, and he knows about it?" Karen leaned forward a little as Smith nodded. "How did he take it when he found out?"

"All things considered he took it rather well. I think he always suspected that I wasn't his real father, but he rather adores me so it doesn't matter. I am his legal guardian and his father now through the magical system, but it's still hard to find out that he doesn't have real parents anymore." Smith sipped at the tea for a moment and then pushed the bag back down with his finger into the water a little more.

"Do you think we should say something to him and Hermione when he comes back down?" David leaned in forward dropping his voice to a whisper. It wouldn't have made any difference considering the children were still upstairs, but it felt more like a conspiracy between the three.

"Nah, it's not like she doesn't already know about him by now, and if she doesn't suspect something then I'm sure that Harry wouldn't be friends with her right now." At the confused glances of the adults, Smith slid an old looking book from his jacket where there didn't seem to be space for it before. He laid it out in front of them and then looked into their eyes. "How much of the magical world's history do you two know?"

"Very little I'm afraid." David spoke as his wife turned the book around to face them, thumbing the pages for a moment. "I tried to read a few of her books before this year started, but it all seemed like gibberish to me. When I did get to the history books, or what they call history I was so bored that I couldn't stay awake."

"Barring Ministry foundation and the rules and regulations for creatures of magical abilities, the actual history of the magical world is rather interesting. It's not really taught as such in Hogwarts unfortunately anymore."

"Why's that?" Karen had opened the book to a random page and was skimming through the text. "Goblin wars? Aren't those the small creatures that manage the money system?"

"Its how they got the job actually. They used to be pretty upset with how they were treated by humans; some still are to be quite honest about it." Smith took a sip from the still steaming tea before he continued. "The thing that you have to understand is that many of the magical people are very xenophobic and would rather believe that they are above other creatures such as the goblins, then have to acknowledge that they might not know as much about magic as they think they do."

A look passed between the two Granger adults before they leaned in even further to talk with Smith. "Is our daughter in some kind of danger then?"

Taking another long sip of the tea Smith shook his head. "Nah, well, not really, well….she's as safe as she can be anywhere else in the magical community." He shook his hand in the air a little and then settled back on the stool tapping his finger on his chin. "The thing you have to understand is that even if you wanted to, you can't take her away from her birthright. It's something that she's going to be using the rest of her life and she needs to be trained to use it. After she finishes school if she decides to leave on her own then she can."

"Why can't we remove her from all of this if it's going to be like this?" David waved his hand towards the black book that lay open to a moving picture of a hoard of goblins taking over a human village.

"You can't, not really until after she graduates." He held up his hand to forestall any arguments. "Right now her body is in a state of flux, her magic competing with her natural body for more of a dominant role in her life. Part of the school's mission is to help her control this so that her body is more in a balance between the two competing forces. It takes the full seven years for her body to become adjusted to these changes."

"Any school would do this though, what if we moved to, oh say France and enrolled her there?" David asked, waving his hands around emphatically. Smith nodded a little and then shook his head.

"Hogwarts, even given it's proclivity towards the boring parts of History, is still one of the premiere magical schools in all of Europe. Plus there are her friends to consider. She's rather attached to them and would not want to leave. You have to also ask yourself whether or not you want to uproot your lives and your practice for something like that."

Karen was staring down at the book as she idly flipped through the pages when she spoke. "What about Harry? Are you going to do something to pull him out?"

Smith sighed and then shook his head. Even upside down he flipped the pages of the book towards the very back where the latest entries were located. When he stopped it had a full color moving picture and a large caption in elegant handwriting over the top. "I can't take him away from what is rightfully his, nor should I even try."

He tapped the photo and the headline as the Grangers turned to stare down at it. Staring up at them was a faded moving photo of a small family of three. The two adults, a man with unruly black hair and a woman with long flowing red hair were holding a small baby in their arms. The two were laughing and the woman would periodically turn and tickle the stomach of the laughing child. Across the top of the page was written in an elegant hand "Harry Potter: The Boy Who Lived." The two stared at it for a moment before looking up to Smith sitting across from him.

"Harry's parents I'm guessing." David asked, tapping a finger on the picture. Smith nodded and he dipped his head back to inspect it.

The picture and headline were atop a detailed listing of what had happened, or at least the theory of what had happened, on the night of Halloween 1981. The article talked about the Potter's life in Godric's Hollow before the attack as well as the fame of the small baby Harry when he had survived the curse of seemingly his own power. Most of it was wild speculation as to the cause of his survival as well as to where he had been kept away until his sudden appearance at Hogwarts earlier in the year.

"So he's some kind of celebrity to the magical people?" Karen flipped a few pages back reading about the war with Voldemort in a little more detail.

"Yes, quite so. I've been able to keep him a little more grounded so it doesn't go to his head, but he is quite famous." Smith finished off the now cooling tea, sliding the mug away from him so that he could use his hands to illustrate a point. "He's famous for loosing his parents, for being an icon when there's no evidence to suggest that he had anything to do with what went on."

"I'm guessing that explains why you said that you visit Harry's parents twice a year." David pulled the book towards him as Karen leaned forward onto her elbows. "Why Christmas though, I thought Halloween would be more significant?"

"Oh it is the problem is the fact that it's significant to everyone else." Smith shook his head a little. "You have to understand that the war was raging everywhere, no one knew whom to trust and brother, sisters, and even cousins could all be suspect as working for the dark. This act on Halloween is seen as the end of a long and bloody war, something that didn't seem possible at the time."

They could hear thundering footsteps above them and Mister Smith snatched the book back, sliding it into the front pocket of his jacket. "Is Hermione in danger, Doctor Smith?" David leaned over the counter as Karen moved about the kitchen putting the last fixings on the meal that she had prepared.

"We're all in danger at one point or another, Doctor Granger." Smith stared into his eyes as he held the gaze level. "The question is will she run and hide, or can she be one of the few that stand up to the darkness when it comes back?"

XoXo

Dinner with the Granger family had been a nice small intimate affair with the children and the adults in active conversation. The adult Grangers wisely did not bring up where Harry had been earlier that day and simply asked him about previous experiences with Christmas and how this one stacked up. Most of the people present put his stories down to pure fantasy with the various monsters and aliens that he had described; the harrowing feats that his dad had performed. All the while Smith shook his head and laughed along with them, clapping his son on his back.

It was nearly ten when finally Hermione gave a loud yawn and protested strongly that she wasn't really tired, just needed to lie down for a bit. Her parents suggested that she lie down for a few hours and sent her off to get ready for bed while the Smith family gathered their coats to get ready to leave. Standing at the doorway of their small townhouse the Smiths and Grangers said goodbye to one another. The adults shook hands while Hermione and Harry shared a small hug; Hermione's cheeks turning red with the prospect, but going into it whole heartily.

"Are you going to see Daphne or Neville tomorrow?" Hermione asked as she played with the hem of the nightshirt she was wearing. The shirt came down to her knees, but she was still modest and wore some leggings underneath.

"I don't think so, I'm not sure where they live and they seemed to be tied up with their own families for the time being. How about you?" Harry stuck his hands into the pockets of his coat as he waited for his dad to finish talking to Misses Granger about something he had seen in the living room.

"We usually just stay in on Boxing Day, but since this is the first holiday where I wont be able to come back readily we might go out and do something more." Hermione sighed a little. "I love school, but I love my parents to, it's so hard to get to see them only on the special holidays."

"I know, I get a little home sick every time we have to go back on the train." Harry smiled and leaned in to the door frame a little. "But I always know that I'll see them again sometime soon, plus you can use Hedwig anytime you want to send letters to them if you want."

Hermione smiled and nodded just as the adults were coming back into the foyer at the front of the house. They had a few more words of thanks and invitations back to their home before Harry and his adopted father slipped out of the house and across the street towards the alley way that they had come in. Watching them from the window Hermione waved to Harry just as he passed out of sight. She turned away from the window just before the light flashed from the alley and there was a whistling wind that kicked up the rubbish on the street.

Skipping into the living room she saw her mother standing near one of the bookcases with a photo in her hand. The edges of the frame were worn brown leather cured and studded slightly at each corner. Coming up behind her she gave her mother a big hug around the knees and got her attention.

"Off to bed with you now, way too much excitement for one day I would imagine." Karen leaned down and scooped up her daughter in her arms just as the little girl gave a loud yawn and rested her head on her mother's shoulder.

Looking over her mother's shoulder just as she was being taken from the room, Hermione could just make out the photo that had held her mother captivated. The photo was old and browned slightly, nonmoving as non-magical photographs were and depicted a trio of people with their arms around one another. The two women had their arms around each other while the man in the photo was smiling and standing off to the side. The two women wore berets on their heads, tilted slightly to the side while the man wore an old style frock coat with large up styled hair.


	10. Invasion of the Dinosaurs

A/N: I'm really really sorry about the slowness of this update, however real life has a tendency to catch up with you. My wife gave birth not too long ago and I've been spending a lot of time with them. Enjoy!

The sound of metal hitting metal resounded around the padded room, the sound reverberating off the walls and then being absorbed by the pads as the two combatants moved. The metal flashed in the air with the lights from above creating streaks of light that seemed to move in a long fluid motion from left to right and then straight up. The metal slashed downwards and was met by another set of metal, the resounding clang sounding through the air once again, but before the sound could go further the sound rebounded and echoed, forming again and again as the two pieces of metal struck each other in quick succession.

The pair of people in the middle of the room moved around one another, their movements almost a blur to the outsider watching them. Their bodies flowed easily as if through water as their swords brought to bear on each other, slashing and moving in and out of the space where a body had occupied only a moment before. In only a moment the figures began to back off from one another, separating and slowly lowering their swords to point towards the ground, facing one another.

Harry breathed heavily in the white gi that he wore the linen light upon his skin and yet still soaked through with his sweat; the glint of gold could be seen on his right hand. The long English spatha sword gleamed in the light as the point of the blade rested against the ground and the twin sharpened edges both pointed from his opponent and down to the ground as well. The sword was almost as tall as him and weighed quite a lot, but he hefted it easily as he kept the point directly down at the floor and looked down the blade at his opponent on the other side of the room.

In stark contrast to his son, Mister Smith was not breathing heavily at all, his chest slowly rising up and down in a controlled manner. He wore a black gi tied around his waist with a white belt in contrast to the color choice of his opponent across the room. He too held a spatha type sword, the flat side of the sword gleaming of an unknown metal in the light as it trailed down and sparkled in the light giving off an almost rainbow effect along the metal.

"You've been keeping up with your training, I see, even at school." Mister Smith spoke slowly, his voice carrying around the room easily.

"It wasn't hard to find the room; it was exactly where my mentors told me it would be." Harry moved the sword slightly to the side, changing his stance so that the flat edge of the sword pointed outward towards the other man.

Mister Smith nodded and turned his own sword inward, facing the flat edge towards his opponent as he leaned against the pommel. "What about everything else?" Harry nodded and a bottle of water appeared in his hand; at this Smith looked up around the room. "Oi, no cheating out of the peanut gallery or I'll have to reprogram a few things; honestly I turn my back for one minute and things are flying off the handle."

Harry shook his head and laughed. "Come on, we both know that's not true, you wouldn't change a thing after so long." He took a swig of the water and then sighed as he swallowed it, savoring the cool feeling on the back of his throat. "It's going well so far, but I think that there's something going on in the background that could cause a few issues for everyone."

"Still worried about that troll from Halloween are we?" Smith smiled as he tossed Harry a white towel from a nearby bench. "I love a good mystery, really I do, I only wish I could get in there myself and see what it's all about."

Harry shook his head a little. "I doubt that's going to happen. Something's going on there and I have a feeling that it has to do with the Headmaster, but I can't be sure. I'll keep observing as much as I can and stay out of established events as much as possible."

"You know the rules and you have the training, just keep that in mind as you go through the rest of the school year." Smith wiped his own face down with a towel, rubbing at his sandy brown hair for a moment and then putting the towel back down on the bench. "We'll have to take some precautionary measures against a few things here and there, but it should be all right."

"Are we headed back towards the station?" At the nod from Smith Harry tossed the towel to him and strode through the door in the wall that had just slid open. Popping his head back into the room he smiled. "Dad, I can't thank you enough for all the training and everything both you and my mentors have shown to me."

He shrugged a little as he moved towards the door to follow Harry up the hallway towards the large circular room. The groaning sound could be heard from the room and was getting louder as they moved down the metal grating of the hallway. "Don't mention it bucko, they trained you up well and I'm only going along with it, like I usually do."

Harry shook his head as he turned a corner away from the circular room and into a large space that expanded upwards with a spiral staircase. The staircase wound up along the inside of the room with the outside covered in various clothes. "I'll get changed, you should probably as well. Why can't you just drop me off at Hogwarts itself? You know that we could just do that."

Smith shook his head as he leaned against the door jamb while he watched Harry ascend the staircase towards a certain rack of clothing. The rack swiveled around a little to face him showing various types of small robes. "You know that I can't do that. If Dumbledore even suspected that we could do that he would hold you hostage or something like that." He waved it off a little and shrugged. "Besides, I thought you would want to ride the train back with your friends."

Harry nodded as he pulled down a Gryffindor emblazoned black robe with a small button up white shirt and black jeans before heading back down towards the ground floor. "True, but I just didn't want to face the questions about what I did over the holidays. I doubt that many of them would really understand what I was doing. I did spend some time with Hermione, which was nice."

Smith nodded as he stood to the side to let the young man to pass by him before following him out into the hallway. "I told her parents about the maturation."

"How did they take it?"

"No one seemed to have told them about it, but that doesn't really surprise me seeing as how they have tried to suppress the information for as long as they have." He put his hands behind his head a little as they walked down a small flight of steps into an identical hallway. "Just warning you since I'm sure that she'll have numerous questions about it when you get on the train."

"Not much different from my original train ride to the school, doesn't really surprise me." He groaned as he shook his head. "I can only hope that the whole history doesn't repeat itself; I have no real desire to deal with Weasley and Malfoy all over again."

Smith quirked a small smile. "You get into trouble wherever you go, you know that." He ruffled the young man's messy hair as they came to another door that slid to the side disappearing into the adjoining wall. "Come on up when you're clean and dressed." Harry nodded as Smith moved off down the hallway towards where the groaning sound could be heard.

XoXo

The sun was just barely peeking over the top of the mountains casting shadows down along the long loch that stood before the ancient castle. The light reflected off the many window panes, throwing glittering prisms of color across the ancient flagstones of hallways and glittering along the suits of armor. The towers shone brightly in the new morning light with banners snapping in the slight breeze that had come in the early morning. The sunlight slowly slid down the main tower and glittered through a stained glass recreation of itself and into the cluttered office of the Headmaster.

Dumbledore sat behind the desk staring at a small brown paper wrapped parcel on his desk. At the top of the paper, tied up with nondescript brown twine, was a small note in loopy handwriting that he recognized rather easily. He pulled his wand from his robe sleeve as he poked at it slightly and then sighed as he leaned back into the chair and stared at the offending object on his desk. Stepping his fingers before him he looked over the half-moon spectacles at the parcel as if it would explode at any moment.

Off to the side of the office near one of the regular windows, which stood open, was a small brown owl preening itself slightly. The owl didn't seem to notice the old man staring balefully at it as it continued to pluck feathers from the plumage and let them flutter down onto the rug of the office. A few of the feathers picked up the wind and slipped from the open window, but most of them had landed inside the office. Dumbledore looked up and stared at the owl that had refused to do its job for once.

The ancient Headmaster had learned that Mister Potter would be staying with his guardians for the holidays through a rather irate Mrs. Weasley. She had called him a few hours after the train was schedule to arrive at King's Cross station, lamenting that the boy wasn't coming to her home for the holidays. When asked what he was doing, she said that some undercover Auror was escorting him to his guardians. This was obviously some kind of ruse as there were no such people stationed around Platform nine and three quarters, and even if there were they would not have exposed themselves to her to do their duty.

Slipping the spectacles off his crooked nose, Dumbledore slowly rubbed at the bridge of his nose. It was acting up again due to the cold weather and the open window wasn't helping matters. Keeping his eyes closed he heard the owl give a squawk at him before the sound of a flutter of wings slowly died down. Once the fluttering was done he waved his wand absentmindedly at the window and listed to it close and latch shut. Almost immediately the cold breeze was cut off and the temperature in the room rose by several degrees.

Still keeping his eyes closed the aged man addressed the seemingly empty room. "Why did it not deliver the package? It is an owl and should simply do it's duty and then fly off to do whatever it is that owls do." He shook his head a little as he stared at the package again on the top of his desk.

He had made the decision rather easily to return the cloak to Harry with a few modifications added to it. The cloak, he knew was Harry's by right simply because his father and family owned it, but it was something that he did not wish to part with easily. He had added a few charms and enchantments to the cloth to make it more noticeable than it was originally; more specifically to take away the silencing effect that it was supposed to have over the wearer. He had also added a few tracking and usage spells so that he knew when Harry would use it and where he was at any point in time.

Dumbledore always prided himself in knowing people inside and out before going into a situation. He would gather intelligence and plan as much as he could before making a single move; in this aspect he was a chess master that would take years to sometimes make his next move. He knew that Harry would latch onto any attention that was given to him and having something of his family's would make him more susceptible to suggestions. Knowing this, the man had deduced that Harry would utilize the cloak, not to study or to get into the library, but to sneak around the castle listening to the suggestions of his best friends in Gryffindor.

That was of course if he could get the cloak to the boy in the first place. When he had first found out that Harry was leaving for the holidays he was shocked; knowing that the Dursleys would abhor the boy and push him away on the holiday, but he had accepted it. He had sent Mrs. Weasley, giving her a few mental suggestions and a push in the right direction, to give him an alternative that he was sure the boy would latch onto vehemently once he heard it. Sure the Weasley boy was being pushy and wasn't one of Harry's close friends, but that could be easily changed.

Again, he was proven wrong, and in the most unusual fashion. Harry denied the chance to spend the holidays with the seemingly loving family of the Weasleys in favor of going home and spending it with his relatives. Looking up from the package Dumbledore consulted one of the ward monitors sitting on a nearby shelf; the small silver dragon puffed out different colored smoke based on the strength of the wards of the home, and at the moment it was a bright green showing that they were as full as ever.

His latest scheme in getting the cloak to Harry was to simply tie it to the leg of an owl and have it delivered as a late Christmas present. Having done so in the most nondescript fashion he had used a school owl, thrown it out the window and forgotten about it. It wasn't until the owl returned right where it had started that he got agitated. Three more unsuccessful trips later the owl stopped going out the window all together.

"Perhaps I made the wards a little more powerful than I had intended." The man let off a chuckle a little as he fiddled with the brown twine that had tied up the package that he had created only a few hours before. "I think that I might have to pay a visit to young Harry and see how his home life is getting along. If anything I will be able to give him my present in person and speak with his guardians." He nodded resolutely as he moved towards the fireplace.

Just as he was about the pick up the floo powder that was resting in a cast iron pot on the mantle, the fire flared a green and a voice of an older man came out. "Albus, I believe we should speak."

Kneeling down, Dumbledore looked into the fire to see an old wrinkled male face. The man's head was completely bald with a small ring of pure white hair along the temples. He appeared to not have much of a beard as it disappeared into the green flames, but his eyes sparkled slightly with their brown color. "Amicalus, what can I do for you this fine day?"

"The petition that you have submitted last month is up for a special vote today." The man turned slightly to appear to be looking at the side of the mantle for a moment before he turned back fully to look at the man before him. "In fact some of the committee is looking forward to coming to Hogwarts for the feast if you are amicable to the idea."

Dumbledore stroked his long beard for a moment as his eyes stared off at the top of the mantle for a moment. He was specifically looking at a small crystal rose that glow a faint red inside. "I think that might be an interesting idea, Amicalus. Can you tell me why the committee would want to come here?"

"Your petition was startling, and it was determined that we should observe the boy ourselves. If it is not acceptable then we can find another time for the boy to be brought before us, or to be observed at another time."

"No, no, of course not. You and the rest are more than welcome to come to Hogwarts. You were all former students here and are always welcome to return." Dumbledore smiled and bowed his head as the man did as well before the green flames disappeared.

Moving back to his desk he slowly slumped into it and stared at the fire. Slowly he began to stroke his beard as he spoke to the empty office. "Now how will I swing this one?"

XoXo

The large red steamer slowly pulled away from the station as many people on the platform waved before popping out of existence. The countryside around it and indeed a few of the cars that were being pulled were covered in a few inches of snow, a gift from a few nights ago to the returning students packed closely into the small compartments on the train. Friends were meeting old friends as well as making new one's, swapping stories and presents that they weren't able to do over the rest of the holiday. Overall it was a very joyous atmosphere carried over from the platform and the crying parents and loved one's to see the children depart.

The mood was not all that different in the last compartment where four first years were sitting talking and laughing with one another. Two Gryffindor, a Slytherin, and a Ravenclaw were all laughing at something that a black haired boy was saying, waving his arms around like tentacles and then making large mouth motions against his face. The two girls were positioned across from the boys on the benches with a snowy owl and a toad perched above the boys respectively.

"Seriously, the thing must have had five heads with huge ten inch fangs." Harry motioned with his hands against his mouth showing his fingers dangling down like teeth. The others laughed a little harder as he smiled and continued. "It walks up to my dad and gives him a great big hug warbling on about a long lost relative."

Hermione nearly fell off her bench as she laughed so hard, but Neville moved forward to catch her, breaking the mood. Harry and Daphne both looked at the two blushing children with a knowing look. "So…uhmm….how was your holidays?" Hermione asked the boys.

"Mine was great, thanks again for that plant, Harry." Neville smiled as he turned to the boy next to him. Harry had sent a late present that turned out to be a seed to be grown in a nice humid environment. It was a harmless magical vine, but not something that you could just clip away and give to someone whole. "Gran and I spent a lot of time talking about life and…" He got quiet and blush a little, refusing to look at the girls.

"Anyway…" Harry smiled as Neville gave him a small smile in appreciation. "Did you two girls enjoy your slumber party?"

The girls giggled a little, but nodded as Daphne leaned forward. "I had no idea the extent of traditions in the muggle world, and the movies…" She giggled a little again. "I thought portraits were good, but that was something else."

"You should go to a cinema sometime, the screen is huge." Harry laughed at the wide eyed look the purebloods were giving the other two. "I've got presents for you two as well, sorry that I couldn't get it in time for the actual holiday." The girls started to stammer out that he didn't have to get them anything, but he waved it away. "Nonsense, you guys are my friends and I want to get you something."

"We didn't think to get you anything, Harry." Hermione spoke up, chewing on her lip as the others nodded as well.

"Not to worry, I got enough stuff for all of us, besides I didn't buy it so technically they're all presents." He smiled as he kicked open his trunk and once again disappeared inside of it. He leaned on the edge onto his tiptoes and rooted around for a bit; his body disappearing much more into the trunk than would seem possible.

Hermione rolled her eyes a little. "Harry, that trick gets old rather quickly once you explained about the trunk in the first place."

Harry laughed as he pulled his head back out of the trunk. "Perhaps, but how about this one?" Leaping up he tucked his legs up into a perfect cannonball maneuver and disappeared under the lid of the trunk. "Geronimo." His voice could be heard echoing for a moment before a loud splash.

The three friends shared a confused look for a moment before a hand came up producing three packages wrapped in different paper. Dropping the packages just on the outside of the trunk the rest of Harry slowly slipped up above the lid of the trunk soaking wet. Giving a few shakes of his head to get rid of the water he lifted himself up out of the trunk and gripped a towel from just the inside of the lid. Slowly he dried himself off as he handed out the three packages to their respective members in the compartment.

Hermione hadn't taken her eyes off the trunk and shook her head as she accepted the package. "I'm not even going to try and ask." Harry smirked at that as she leaned down and stared at the package. "I didn't think you were going to get me anything beyond what you already got me for the hols."

Harry shrugged as the other two started to unwrap what he had gotten them. For Daphne he had gotten a small selection of muggle music ranging from rock music all the way down to what most would consider easy listening. To play them he had gotten what looked to be a silver cassette player with a few added runes on the side and the top of it. At her confused look, Harry smiled even more.

"I got it to work on pure magic instead of having any sort of electrical interface. It was actually rather easy once you know what you're looking at." Hermione and Daphne stared at it for a moment and then looked back up at him. "What, did I violate the laws of magic once again?"

"It's a known fact that muggle electronics don't work around heavy magical areas." Hermione took the cassette player from Daphne and popped in one of the new tapes. Pressing the button the speakers started to blare one of the popular songs of the previous year. Pressing another of the player's functions the tape skipped forward and started playing again. "How did you do this?"

Harry smiled and turned to Neville instead. "Let's get through with the other presents first and then I will entertain your questions about anything in particular."

Neville was given a book on various plant species that he had never heard of. The book came with moving pictures of the fully grown specimens as well as what looked to be hand written notes by the author about a few of the more rare species. He was soon lost in thought as he flipped through it. It was what Hermione had gotten that had her confused.

"A box?" She held up the small box about six inches perfectly squared on each side and turned it over in her hand. Each side contained a different set of symbols set within their own small tile. The entire thing was an earthly brown color with none of the symbols repeated on each of the sides.

Harry smiled as he took the cube from her and turned it over in his hands as well, manipulating a few of the symbols on each of the sides until an unearthly music began to play in the compartment, soft and soothing to the heart and ears. In a moment the music stopped and the tiles slid back into place. "It's a puzzle box. You'll have to figure out how to open the top of it before you'll get your real present." He laughed at the somewhat hurt look on Hermione's face.

"Why are you being so difficult, Harry?" She pouted as she took the cube back from him and started to press the symbols in a random order.

"You like a good challenge, don't make it seem like I'm going to torture you with this." He smiled when her eyes light up as she pushed more of the tiles down watching each symbol sink into the cube before moving on to the next one. She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment as her fingers traced over a few of the tiles looking for another one to push down.

Hermione's eyes light up like it was Christmas all over again as she snuggled down into the bench with the cube to try out different combinations. Harry chuckled a little as he let his friends enjoy the small trinkets that he had gotten for them. Daphne was already listening to one of the cassettes that he had gotten and Neville was buried into the book as he sat back down on the bench. He was in the process of packing up his trunk once more when there was a knock on the compartment door.

Nevile, Hermione, and Harry all looked up at the door; Daphne was rocking out with her eyes closed and mouthing along with one of the songs on the cassettes that she was listening to. Harry stood up and pulled the glass door aside to show a rather enthusiastic looking Ron Weasley standing on the other side holding a brown wrapped package up to Harry.

"Here Harry, Happy Christmas!" He seemed to bounce on his toes a little as she shoved the package into Harry's waiting arms. "I was supposed to deliver it to you since I'm your best mate and the sender knew that I was trustworthy." He craned his neck around and seemed to look into the compartment at the assortment of people. "Hey, what are you people doing in my and Harry's compartment?"

Harry rolled his eyes and was about to push the door closed when he stopped and stared at the package. "Where did you even get this, Weasley?"

Ron snapped out of glare at Daphne, whom was still ignoring everything around her in favor of drumming with her fingers on her thigh. "Oh, mum said that someone dropped it off for you, figured that you would get it from me since we're best mates and all."

Groaning Harry pushed the door closed just as Ron was about to say something else. Flopping down onto the bench Harry put the package on the top of his closed trunk and stared at it. Neville was the first one to ask. "Aren't you going to open it, Harry?"

Harry shrugged a little as he simply stared at it for a moment, fiddling with a gold band on his right hand. "I'm not really sure that I should. If it's from Weasley it's liable to just be a giant heart with our pictures in it."

Hermione giggled a little as she reset the runes on the cube and put it into her bag sitting next to her. "He said that he got it from someone else."

"Correction, he got it from his mum, whom got it from someone else." Neville said as he put away his new book as well, leaning in to examine the small package addressed to Harry on the top of it. There was a card with Harry's name tied to the top of the package in loopy handwriting. "Gran always thought that the Weasley's were a little odd. I've heard stories from the twins about how their mother likes to coddle the lot of them, even the older siblings whom are already out of Hogwarts."

Hermione sighed and nodded. "I think her temper and her mollycoddling are legendary throughout Hogwarts, just as much as her eldest sons are." At a look from the two boys she sighed and continued to explain. "William Weasley was Head Boy his seventh year before becoming a curse breaker for Gringotts, and Charles Weasley was arguably the best seeker Gryffindor had ever had, he now works with dragons in Romania."

Harry whistled a little and picked up the package before kicking his trunk open. "Sounds like dealing with dragons would be easier than Molly Weasley. I do sometimes wonder how such great guys like the twins could come from the same family as Ron and Percy." He shook his head as he reached into the trunk only up to his elbow and came out with a small eyeglass.

Neville shook his head as he looked across Daphne towards Hermione. "How exactly do you know about all the Weasley family anyway?"

Hermione huffed a little at Harry and then turned at Neville's question. "Percy isn't bad, just a real stickler for the rules. Anyway, I was interested in the family when Ronald wouldn't leave Harry here alone so I looked them up in the old school albums as well as the newspaper articles around that time."

Harry shrugged as he sat back down on the bench with the package in his lap and the eyeglass in his hand. The glass had refraction at the bulbous end much like a jeweler's glass with multiple small pieces of glass and a single one at the other, smaller end. He put it in backwards at first, the large end in his eye as he looked over the package getting a small giggle from Hermione and a confused look from Neville.

"It goes the other way around, Harry." Hermione giggled as Harry gave off a snort and turned the glass around, blinking slightly to cause his eye to reflect several times in the glass and look like an insect. This set Hermione off giggling again.

"What exactly is that thing, Harry?" Neville leaned in to look at what Harry was doing.

"It's a loupe, or commonly known as a jeweler's lens, Neville." Hermione spoke when it seemed like Harry wasn't going to answer. He was busy examining the package from all different angles and even turning it upside down and shaking it. "Muggle jewelry makers use them to inspect gems to ensure that they are set correctly and that the gems are unblemished for sale. My parents also use a variant attached to a pair of glasses to inspect their patient's teeth."

Harry nodded as he finally picked the letter off the top of the package as if the thing would explode if he touched it too much. "Correct, Hermione. This prismatic lens allows me to see things at a much higher magnification with the refractive power of several inlaid prisms."

"Alright, that explains what that is, but what exactly are you doing with it to look at the package?" Neville asked as Harry slowly extracted a piece of parchment from the envelope and looked it over for a moment before turning it around to face the others.

"Your father left this in my possession before he died. Use it well." Hermione read and then shrugged. "I guess it was some kind of heirloom of your family's. Do you want to open it?"

Harry shook his head as he picked up both the package and the glass before dropping both into the trunk. Not waiting to hear it come down inside of the trunk he left it alone for the time being as he sat back down on the bench. "Nah, if it was my Dad's then I should have had it long before now. Plus the whole 'use it well' makes me a little suspicious."

"It could have been some kind of book or some kind of teaching material that you could use in your studies." Hermione protested, looking at the closed trunk with a small about of wanting.

Surprisingly it was Neville whom shook his head and answered. "Pureblood family heirlooms are rarely anything that can be used to such a degree that would necessitate its use immediately. My Gran has several heirlooms from her family, and their mostly ceremonial things or things that some ancestor got through conquest that thought were important, but have no real equivalent these days. Any books or serious heirlooms such as weapons would be locked up in his family vault or beneath the family manor."

Harry nodded and smiled a little. "There was quite a bit at Gringots, but I'm still waiting to head to the Manor with my Dad until sometime in the future."

Hermione groaned and put a hand on her head. "I'm sorry, but we're talking about your dad being dead and then he's alive. I keep forgetting that you're actually adopted now." Harry laughed a little as Daphne had pushed a rune and pulled the headphones off of her head and smiled brightly.

"These are great, Harry, thanks. I don't really care how they work, it's just amazing." She looked around the compartment at a Neville whom was smiling at Hermione whom had her head in her hands. "Did I miss anything?"

XoXo

Surprisingly enough, for the four friends at the very least, Malfoy was not on the train and had apparently opted to stay at Hogwarts over the Christmas Holidays. Harry had pointed out that he almost missed the blonde's visit on the train as he remembered the last time he had almost had the ponce's eyes crossed using simple logic. This kept them laughing as they took the carriages up to the castle; which was odd in itself before they got to the large doors.

Once they were at the large doors Harry had hopped out of the carriage and patted what seemed like thin air to most of the others. Neville shivered as he watched Harry, but kept his mouth shut when the others had asked about what had happened. He joined the rest of the crew and the other students as they streamed into the castle and into the Great Hall. He was one of the only one's that noticed the small contingent of very old looking men that had congregated at the Head Table with Dumbledore.

On either side of Dumbledore were two men with beards almost as long as his own and heads that were nearly a polished cue ball. Their aged wrinkled skin seemed to hang off their gaunt skulls in large pockets that made jowels under their jaws. Each man was wearing purple robes and were discussing amongst themselves as whispers broke out along the Great Hall as the students were sitting down to begin the new fest. Harry kept his eyes on the old men, but didn't say anything when his friends mentioned their being there to him.

Internally Harry's danger sense was going off in his head as he stared at each of the men in turn and then at Dumbledore himself. Almost of their own mind his index finger of his right hand began to draw out circles and designs on the table while his first two fingers of his left hand drummed out a beat of four. His eyes were so focused on the Headmaster that he didn't notice the other pairs of eyes that were following his hands as well as his own face where they were looking. At the next table were a pair of young girls of twelve staring at him intensely.

"Isn't he so dreamy?" The girl with black hair sighed as she leaned on her elbows staring unabashedly at Harry.

"You need to get a hold of yourself girl." Her companion at her side said as she buttered a roll and popped it into her mouth. The feast had started only a few moments ago, but Harry didn't seem to have noticed the food appearing on the plates before them. "Plus, I thought you were going to go after Diggory first and maybe work your way up towards Potter."

She sighed and shrugged still staring at Harry as he had finally noticed the food and started to sensibly load his plate with a few different vegetables. "I can jump in feet first if I really wanted to, there's not much competition from his own house."

The other girl nodded as she slid some mashed potatoes onto her fork and scooped it up into her mouth. She finished eating before speaking. "True, but you see how he hangs out with Greengrass and Granger."

The other girl scowled a little as she looked down the table at where Hermione was talking at a pair of older girls about something that seemed to have their interest. "Don't remind me. I can't believe she got in there before any of us. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to get in Gryffindor just to be closer to Potter."

Her friend shook her head as she finished eating and pushed the plate away from her. "Seriously, you need to find a better hobby. You're practically stalking the boy now, following him everywhere."

"It's not like it matters, he always seems to disappear. I've followed him along the first floor, you know where that out of order bathroom is, and he just disappears right around the corner. Then there was that time up on the seventh floor." She groaned and shook her head. "I just don't understand how he gets around so fast. It almost like he seems to be in more than one place at a time."

Her friend shook her head and patted her on the shoulders a little. "That's impossible, we've already covered the theory of apparition and know as a Ravenclaw that it's impossible to apparate on school grounds. You're trying too hard. Why don't you just go and introduce yourself to him and hope for the best?"

"That could take forever." She groaned as she played with her peas, pushing a small amount around on her plate before everything vanished to be replaced by the deserts. "Potter's girlfriend would be given certain liberties around school, not to mention the fact that every girl under fifth year is attempting to snag him all at once. Just look at how those Gryffindor girls are making googgly eyes at him."

Indeed many of the girls fifth year and below were staring at Harry wantonly, but he wasn't paying the littlest attention to them. He was laughing at something that Neville had said as the boy slapped him on the back to keep from choking on the juice he had just swallowed. Another round of laughter caused some of the pumpkin juice to seep out of his nose as he grabbed a napkin to hold it in. The girls, Lavender Brown in particular, were inching their way closer and closer to him to try and fill in gaps on the benches that didn't exist.

The other Ravenclaw girl, not the black haired one, shrugged as she pulled a tart towards her. "Seriously, he doesn't seem interested in girls in the romantic sense at all. I don't see the point of pinning over him if he isn't going to give you the time of day."

"Of course he's not interested in them right now, he's eleven, but in the future he will. I mean, think about it, if you're friends for years, aren't you more likely to get into a relationship?"

The girl shrugged again. "Knowing absolutely nothing about Harry Potter as a person, I can't really say, but he's just as likely to pick a random girl out at sixth year and stick with that one."

The black haired girl pouted a little more. "I want him now though, who knows what kind of shape he'll be in later. You know that most romances at sixteen don't actually last, it would be unrealistic to expect someone that dates in sixth year to be together twenty years later without at least some kind of other dating opportunities." She shook her head and smiled as she spooned out some pudding. "No, you're right, I've got time Marietta."


	11. The Ice Warriors

By the end of the week the contingent of old men had moved around the castle to almost every class, in every year and spoken to a handful of students. Much to Harry's dismay he seemed to be followed by at least two of them at almost all times of the day. He saw a pair of them talking to Ron Weasley as he waved enthusiastically at Harry while he was passing the odd trio in the hall. The end of the week couldn't have come any faster as far as Harry was concerned. The old men were a little creepy and having Ron talking to them was starting to be even worse than possible.

The weekend saw a marked pick up in the spirits of the school, however, with the latest match up in Quidditch. Gryffindor was going to play Hufflepuff to see who would go up against Slytherin in the final match for the house cup. While Harry had done fairly well in the flying class that they had earlier on in the year, nothing of note really occurred; Neville had nearly broken his arm on a tight turn, but was fixed up in a jiffy by Madam Pomfrey. Harry didn't share the avid fandom for Quidditch that some of his other roommates seem to have. Most notably were Ron and Dean getting into an argument over the merits of football versus Quidditch.

"I just don't see the point." Ron complained as the boys made their way down the sloping lawn towards the stadium in the distance. Most of the school was already congregating in the seats to watch the match.

"I already explained the rules and the concept to you, Ron. It's the same as Quidditch." Dean was waving his hands around in the air in exasperation.

"It is not! All those people on the ground running about back and forth and not a single bludger in sight. You only get one ball and all the action is centered on a handful of players at a time. Honestly…" Ron shook his head as he tried once more to explain the subtle nuances in a single game of Quidditch; this was mostly the fact that there was always something to look at for the very short attention span of the redhead.

Neville shook his head as he walked with Harry behind the arguing pair. They had distanced themselves as much as possible from them so that they could talk without having the redhead overhear anything that they said. It wasn't that they didn't like Dean, but if Ron had noticed Harry not showing an interest in the sport he may have taken personal offense at it. Seamus was bringing up the rear a few feet behind them, but was more fascinated staring at the girls that were walking around them than to pay any kind of attention to where he was going, let alone the conversations going on.

"I don't think that either of them will ever truly agree on anything." Neville said as he swept his hand towards the pair that had just ducked into the stadium through a small veiled doorway.

Harry shook his head as well, grabbing Seamus and pulling him away from running off to flirt with another sixth year. He pulling on his robes also had the added effect of not allowing the Irish man to slam headfirst into a wooden post. "Cricket, now there's a wonderful sport if I do say myself."

Neville smiled a little as the three headed up with their dorm mates and their house towards the stands. The seats were nearly full. "I wonder what would happen if you throw in Cricket into the conversation and see what happens. I've seen a few matches played when I was younger so I know what it is, but I've never actually played in one."

Harry nodded a little as they entered into the stadium proper and headed up the long stairs that would bring them out onto the main seating areas. "Dad once bowled out a man when he was younger, still talks about it to this day."

The students pulled their heavy cloaks around their bodies and tightened the ties and the scarves around their necks. The winter weather hadn't let up this far north and it would seem that the match was going to be played in rather severe cold. There was already ice hanging from the stands and off the ends of a few of the brooms held by the players already out on the field or up in the air practicing before the match started. The worst was that the higher they climbed the colder the air seemed to get, and the brooms were flying even higher than that.

Harry took a seat with Neville and Hermione halfway up the stands almost right in the middle of the row. It wasn't the best viewpoint given the fact that the players were all down on the field still, but when the game actually started it was going to be nice to see them moving up around in the sky. Hermione had already conjured a small blue bell flame inside of a glass jar to keep them warm and was holding her hands against the glass when the pair of boys showed up. Nobody seem to pay any attention to the lone Ravenclaw sitting amongst the red and gold as they had seen her so often around Neville and Harry.

"There you two are the game's about to start. What took you so long?"

Harry rolled his eyes and jerked his thumb in the direction of Ron and Dean whom were still arguing. "Weasley and Dean didn't want to give up their quest in how to perfect the best looking hairdo. Add to that the fact that neither seems all that interested in listening to what anyone says and you get us being late."

Hermione looked confused so Neville explained as he sat down next to her. "Dean and Seamus were working on their hair when Ron got into an argument with Dean about football versus Quidditch." He pointed down to where the two boys were waving their arms around in the front row nearly knocking out a startled Parvati Patil whom glared at the two before moving. "They're still at it, although by the looks of it they might be winding down. They should just accept the fact that they're never going to agree and move on."

"I'm sure that they will keep at it for most of the game if not the entire thing." Harry shivered a little and put his hands against the warm glass that Hermione was keeping in her lap. "Nice spell work by the way."

Hermione beamed a little as she looked down at her own mitten covered hands grasping at the warmth of the glass jar. "Thanks, it's rather simple actually and I'm not sure why the entire stadium doesn't have some kind of warming charm on it, it would make much more sense for these stupid outdoor sports that they insist that we have."

Neville hid a small smile as he nodded slowly. "Don't let Ron hear you say that. He'll go on and on about how Quidditch is the best sport in the world." Hermione rolled her eyes that got the boy laughing a little.

Harry was looking around at the stadium and counting things on his fingers. "Carry the two….divide by twelve…." He was muttering to himself as he snapped his fingers. "It wouldn't be possible with a conventional warming charm, but perhaps some kind of ward might work, anchored to a stone buried in the middle of the field. Then with the ambient magic that is inherent in the field as well as the players and the brooms…"

"Huh?" Hermione turned in her seat to stare at Harry, but Neville pulled them both back down to where the players were coming out of the locker rooms.

"I think the game's going to start." Once he had said it the loud speaker system blared to life with the voice of Lee Jordan, the announcer for most of the Quidditch games since he had gotten there two years earlier.

"Welcome everyone to another thrilling game of Quidditch." There was a cheer that went up around the stadium as the players were moving out onto the field proper and lining up facing one another. "And here they are the lions of Gryffindor and the badgers of Hufflepuff." Lee's voice echoed around the stadium magically amplified and projected through several tubes installed so that everyone could hear his voice.

By the time the commentary had started most of the players had already mounted their brooms and had shaken off some of the ice that had started to form on their robes. Taking the time to slowly work their way around the stadium the two teams were squared off in the middle with the Hufflepuffs on the left and the Gryffindors on the right; this meant that the stands were situated just behind their teams so that they could cheer them on. The Ravenclaws and Slytherins could join either side if they choose to do so, or take seats in the raised stands on either side of the midfield line.

"Captain Oliver Wood for Gryffindor meets Hufflepuff Captain Lisa Rener at midfield for a handshake. Two Captains that you couldn't find more alike those two, wonder what they would be like on a date together."

"Jordan!" The voice of Professor McGonagall seated next to Lee rang through the magically amplified tubes that were situated in front of the boy.

"Just kidding Professor. And the quaffle is released, and the game is on."

Indeed Madam Hooch, the Quidditch referee and flying instructor, had tossed the large red ball into the air and the teams were scrambling for possession of it. Finally, one of the chasers from Hufflepuff had grabbed a hold of it and was speeding away towards the goal at the other end of the pitch and right towards Oliver Wood. Wood had moved quickly back to his own post on the field and watched as the chaser came closer and closer. His beaters, Fred and George Weasley, were doing a good job at trying to unseat the chaser, but she continued to come towards him with the ball clutched under her left arm.

"And Hufflepuff is making a daring drive towards the goals." Lee's voice came over doing the commentary once more. Many of the students had tuned him out for a while so that they could simply watch the game. "Rener's got the quaffle and she's heading towards Wood, looks like she's going for…no, a feint, but Wood is there to stop it anyway. Tough luck there, Rener, better luck next time."

Rener had tried to shoot for the left while making it seem like she was going for the right hoop. Wood hadn't fallen for it at all and had been able to block the shot easily with his broom. The quaffle was dropped into the waiting hands of Alicia Spinnet whom was waiting just below the hoops for the opportunity. She and Katie Bell spun around the hoops once and then took off towards the other end of the pitch. Angelina Johnson was running interference with the Hufflepuff chasers, but joined up in an arrow formation with the other two around the middle of the field.

"And the Gryffindor Hotties-"

"Jordan, I warned you!" McGonagall could be heard with a little frustration and annoyance in her voice.

"Sorry, Professor, just telling it like it is. Oh look, they're going for the goal. Johnson passes it to Spinnet, who passes it to Bell. Feint to Johnson, underhanded pass to Spinnet and the girls are going for the goal."

Up in the stands Harry had started to hum something under his breath, but it slowly got louder and louder until his companions on either side were leaning in to try and hear what it was. They had to lean in even if he was talking at normal voice because of the loud whistling that the wind was whipping around the stands produced. The cold air had made for a frigid looking group of students, but they were still on their feet and cheering loudly as the three Gryffindor girls passed the quaffle back and forth between them looking for the right shot.

"Harry?" Hermione asked as she had to nearly shout over the wind and the cheering of the crowd around her. "What's that tune?"

Harry simply smiled and continued to hum a little. Neville was leaning in a little more to try and get the tune. A light seemed to go off in his head as he started to laugh and nod. "Very appropriate." Suddenly, Neville was humming along with Harry as well.

"I don't get it, what-" Hermione broke off as she really listened to the tune that the two boys were humming and started to giggle. Before too long she had taken up the tune as well as those around the three were looking at them oddly.

"Spinnett takes a bludger to the arm and drops the quaffle. Rener has it and is shooting up the pitch towards the hoops. She passes it to Stevens and then to Cole, but the Weasley's are there to intercept. Not sure which one that was, but the bludger graces the tail of Cole's broom and forces him to drop the quaffle right into the hands of Johnson."

Harry had picked up the tune a little louder and a few of the muggle borns in the Gryffindor stands were humming along in between giggles. A very ingenious sixth year had taken a hold of his wand and used it to not only amplify the tune, but to also have it override Lee's commentary. Soon the song was blasting easily through the speaker system to the entire pitch and not just the humming version that Harry had started. Several students were looking around almost stupidly, but more than a dozen had figured it out and were singing along with it just as it went along.

Spinnett, Johnson and Bell were professionals on the pitch and had learned to block out everything around them save the movements of the other two and the bludgers that could come near them. Be that as it may they couldn't block out the sudden music blasting through the pitch that seemed for them alone. Katie had a small smile on her face as she hummed and tossed the quaffle to Angelina whom swooped in the left and passed it behind her back to Alicia. By now the three girls were moving in sync and slammed past the last defenses of the Hufflepuff lines and Alicia was able to put it through the middle hoop.

The cheer that erupted from the stands was enough to break the spell on the speakers and Jordan's voice came back on with more enthusiasm. "Not sure what that was, but it seemed to have worked. Gryffindor scores…what? Oh, apparently that was Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. Very appropriate if I do say so."

A few of the Professors looked pleased with the music selection, including McGonagall, but there were a few that were scowling about the sudden interruption to the game. Sprout shared a smile with her other Head of Houses except for Snape whom was sitting back with his arms crossed over his chest and sneering at everyone. Although Dumbledore was smiling at the interruption, there was an underlining hardness to his eyes and the smile didn't seem to quite reach them as he nodded politely at the people around him.

"Any sign of the snitch yet?" Neville called over the cheering crowds and the wind that had picked up a little more after that last goal.

Harry nodded and pointed at a small speck of gold about halfway down the pitch hovering a few inches off the ground. "Right there, been there for about three minutes now."

Hermione gasped as she turned her binoculars, something she had retrieved from her trusty bookbag at her side, towards where Harry was pointing. "I don't get it; both of the seekers are just circling the pitch up there. They could've ended the game five minutes in if they wanted to."

Neville shrugged as he was watching the lazy figure eights that the two seekers were making high above the pitch. Every so often the two would cross in the middle and seemed to exchange short words and then were off again. "Maybe they're stalling for something."

Harry shrugged. "Or they just don't see it. Neither of them are looking down on the ground so I don't expect that they would see it very well." He peeled his eyes away from the small gold fleck that was making it's own lazy figure eights near the grass and scanned the stands around them. "Have you seen Daphne today?"

Hermione nodded as her eyes were still glued to the binoculars that were following the path of the snitch on the field. "She was in the library this morning. She said that she wasn't going to bother coming down here considering most of her house was going to be here. I think she wanted to spend some time with her new friends in her own house for a bit. She didn't think it important to sit with her house and considering what would happen if she sat up here…"

Neville groaned and nodded a little. "We still get teased by a few of the older years about being friends with someone outside our own house. Ravenclaws not included of course, Hermione."

Hermione blushed a little and put her binoculars down into her lap and looked around again. She groaned a second later and tried to hide her face. "Speaking of Ravenclaws."

The crowd of Gryffindors were on their feet cheering as their team on the pitch was making a spectacular show of bouncing the quaffle between the chasers; unfortunately this opened up the aisles to the stairs on either side of the stands. A pair of girls dressed to the hilt in Ravenclaw colors had just crested the top of the stairs and had been looking around as if they were lost. Upon seeing the small trio still seating while the rest of the section was on their feet cheering they started to head in that direction. The two girls were roughly the same size height wise with one having long shiny black hair that was pulled back and held to her head in a ponytail with a blue ribbon; she was dressed in what appeared to be a short dress covered over in a thick cloak.

"H-Harry?" The girl's teeth chattered against the cold as she rubbed her gloved hands against one another. The pair of girls came up level with them now and had worked their way on either side of the black haired boy.

Hermione sighed and shook her head a little as she slid down, offering space to the black haired girl's friend. Marietta was much nicer than her friend and smiled and had already tried to thank Hermione for moving. "Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecomb." Hermione said as she indicated the two girls.

"Pleased to meet you ladies, but perhaps you should be seated or covered up a little more." Harry waved to the bench that he was seated on. Around them the crowd was starting to sit back down as well as the Gryffindor team had lost the quaffle and was currently in a large scuffle in the middle of the field.

"H-Harry, it's s-s-so n-nice to finally m-m-meet you." Cho tried to speak with her teeth chattering so much as she lowered herself on the bench next to him. She was sitting so close to him that it almost appeared that she was seated on his thigh.

Hermione and Marietta both rolled their eyes at the same time and then tried to hide the giggles that the coordinated movement seemed to bring. "Cho and Marietta are a year ahead of us and I believe that Marietta is the top of her class in Charms, isn't that right?" The indicated girl started to flush a little.

"Congratulations, perhaps sometime we can talk about the usage of charms in everyday life. I think it would be interesting to get the perspective-" Harry was speaking when Cho interrupted him quickly.

"E-Enjoying Quidditch, H-Harry? I-I play you know." Cho smiled a little, her face already red from the cold and a little stinging from the biting wind that was still blowing around the stands.

Harry shook his head a little as he tried to go back and forth between the two girls that were seated on either side of him. "I don't really play much of it, to be honest, you should talk to Ron about it though." He indicated the redhead that was back arguing with Dean about the merits of Quidditch versus football.

Marietta sighed as she saw that her friend was trying to engage Harry back into conversation. She had started to stand, stretching her legs out as she rubbed her hands against her thighs a little. "Well, now that you've found him, I think that I'm going-"

Harry's eyes had flashed gold for only a moment, but it was enough to make Marietta pause. She was the only one that had seen it, but she wasn't the only one that heard him speak. His voice was almost ethereal as he spoke. "Duck."

"What?" Marietta put her hands on her hips as she stared at Harry. "You're not making any-urk!" She squealed as Harry had jumped off the bench and had tackled her down to the floor along the aisle.

Cho was had just jumped to her feet to say something when a red blur flew past her and impacted with the bench that Harry was just seated on. The blur slammed into the wood and splintered it leaving a large hole in the back of the bench. The impact sent slivers of wood flying everywhere and forced the other students backwards a few feet. When Hermione and Neville were able to regain their footing they had already drawn their wands and were positioning them on the hole in the wood that the blur had made.

"Sorry about this, Miss Edgecomb. You do seem to be a rather nice young woman and-" Harry was prevented from saying more as he rolled out of the way, just in time to miss a red blur slamming up through the wood just beneath him.

The movement of the wood beneath him had weakened a little of the support and it started to creak as larger cracks started to form. Marietta had scrambled backwards towards the stairs, her weight pulling the cracks in her direction as she moved. The entire stand started to split in half from the movement of the people and screams were starting along the entire row.

Harry moved only a little, hopping up on the bench that used to be in front of him and running along it towards where the cracks were starting to reach Marietta. Instead of his wand flying into his hand a small silver cylinder topped with a round protrusion slid into his right hand from somewhere up his sleeve. He thumbed a small button on the cylinder and a green light came on in the protrusion at the end of it; a small whistling noise could be heard before the creaking of the wood finally stopped and the stands settled back again.

Instead of stopping to help Marietta up off the floor, Harry had rushed past her, the cylinder still in his hand as he took a leap towards the end of the stands. The red blur that had impacted before was arcing back towards the stands once more and it paused only briefly in the long slow arc that it was making. The blur turned out to be one of the bludgers from the game, but there was no one near it when it started to move back towards the stands once more. By this time the players on the field had stopped moving and even the Professors were on their feet to see what was going on.

The Gryffindors in the stands were moving chaotically around trying to find exits as well as hold onto some friends. Prefects were directing the younger years towards the stairs while the older years had their wands out and were trying to strike the ball. Every time a colored spell would come near the ball it would change direction or spin out of the way, but kept coming right back to a path that would take it back towards the stands. Eventually the seventh years started to erect complicated shield patterns along the wooden stairs to keep them holding should they be impacted when the bludger hit again.

Harry had stopped at the edge of the railing on the stairs, his feet perched precariously near the edge of the stands with nothing behind him, but empty air. Neville was helping Hermione and Marietta to stand while Cho was being pushed by the crowd towards the stairs. The three still in the stands watched as Harry was tracking the progress of the ball in the air and moving his hips a little to the left and the right. As they watched the ball changed position slightly to his changing weight; when he moved his weight to his right foot the ball would divert slightly to the right, same with the left.

Unlike the other students, Harry had worn his trainers today so the rubber gripped the wooden grains a little easier than his boots might have. This also allowed him some balance as they were hard soled shoes that didn't force him forward or backwards based on where the weight currently was. At a moment's notice he started to move, dodging to the left he took off along the top beam that formed the outer box of the stands. This beam took him down to where the front of the stands was located and he moved nimbly along it taking each step carefully.

The ball slammed past him and burst through the bottom of the stands through one of the benches. It must have struck another support beam because the entire structure started to waver a little. The three still standing in the stands watched as it started to tip forward a little, the view of the pitch altering a little to show them looking down at the grassy field and not a the sky as they should have been. They started to move back towards the stairs even as they watched as Harry wobbled a little where he was standing.

"Harry, NO!" Hermione screamed as the bludger came smashing back up through the beam he was standing on only a few feet from his feet. He wavered only once and then pitched over the side towards the field below.

When Harry had pitched over the side of the railing he had thumbed the dial and the button on the small cylinder causing the whistling noise to be heard again, but it was soon eclipsed by a loud tearing noise. The three students left on the stands hurried down in time to see Harry falling through the air with the corner of the Gryffindor banner clutched in his hand and slowly falling towards the ground. The problem became the fact that the banner was over twenty feet long, but the stands were easily fifty feet in the air. The bludger was coming back around when he ran out of the banner and was falling through the air once more.

In the few moments that this was all going on in the Gryffindor stands the rest of the stadium, as well as the players still on their brooms, hadn't moved very much. The Professor were stunned when Harry had tipped over the side and a gasp was heard reverberating around the stadium when he started to tear the banner down the side of it. By the time he had reached the end of the cloth the collective stupefaction of the crowd had nearly worn off and two players shot forward towards the Gryffindor stands. They were the closest and as Harry fell through the air one of them shot out a hand and grasped his left wrist to dangle him a good fifteen feet in the air.

"How ya doing, Potter?" Fred, or was it George, Weasley called down as he held the boy aloft. "Goy, you do need to loose some weight, you know."

"Start flying, Fred." Harry called up towards his rescuer even as he kept an eye on the bludger that was coming towards them again. George had positioned himself between the two and had swung his bat and knocked it off course, but only for a moment before it circled back around and headed towards them.

Taking the hint the two twins began to fly away from the bludger, but it was starting to catch up with them quickly. "Can't outrun it, Harry, got any bright ideas?" Fred called down as he was straining to hold the boy aloft. They were slowly drifting down towards the field and the grass below.

With his free hand Harry held the silver cylinder up and thumbed the on switch as well as the small dial that was below it. With a grin he slowly started to twist the dial. "Fly Higher, I've got an idea."

"Are you out of your mind?" Lisa Rener had joined in the small group that was now being chased by the bludger. The other players were trying to get it to divert from the path, but most of them had started to follow the twins around should they need to drop Harry at any moment. "Flying higher isn't going to get you out of the path of that rouge bludger, you know."

Harry laughed as wind whipped across his face blowing his black hair in all directions. "Who said I'm trying to get away from it." He called up to Fred whom was still holding him. "Higher, or pass me off. Allons-y!"

Harry could hear the twins laughter as they started to climb higher, making a long lap around the pitch with the bludger still following behind them. The group of players started to break up to divert away from the three people flying around and trying to get the bludger to continue to follow them. The ball was catching up to the pair on the brooms, but it was what Harry wanted. Slowly the red ball was coming closer and closer, and when it was within ten feet Harry thumbed the button on the cylinder and let it whistle for a moment.

"Come on, calibrate damn you." When it beeped in his hand he twisted the dial again and pushed the button down harder than before. "Just another few….seconds…" The ball was almost close enough for him to touch, but suddenly it started to drop back. "Gotcha!"

Harry's exclamation nearly caused Fred to drop him, but both twins turned around to watch the red ball that was previously trying to bash them in suddenly slow down. The bludger was still following them a little, but it had reduced speed and was starting to slowly turn away from them. In a moment the red ball had turned away completely. They were now flying almost level with the top of the stands and the ball peeled away when they had passed the Professor's stand.

Everyone watched as the ball peeled away from the pursuit to bury itself into the nearest bench along the stands that the Professor's were occupying only a moment before. Harry was able to take note of where the ball left a large impression and kept it for later as he watched the ball disappear into the depths of the stands. A noise behind him caused him to twist a little and look around back towards the hoops at the other end of the pitch.

A creaking and groaning sound came along with the snapping of wood and a few other things that finally spelled the end of the Gryffindor stands. In a last heaving motion the stands pitched forward and slammed into the three hoops that stood on the pitch. The metal hoops tore through the top of the stands and came out the other side completely unscathed while the wreckage of the stands tumbled down around it. Wood, fabric, and metal all screeched to a halt as it came to rest around the bottom of the three hoops in a large massive heap.

"You don't do things by half, do you, Potter?" George was flying next to him and gave a small smile. "Not even we in the many years that we've been here have ever been able to really bring down the house with our flying."

Harry rolled his eyes as he looked down at the grass still a number of feet below him. "Come on, thing one and thing two, get me down to the ground before Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape have a collective coronary."

Indeed the collected staff was standing down on the pitch and staring up at the three people still in the air. The rest of the two teams had already landed and gone along to their dormitories as instructed. Most of the school was still standing on the lawn just outside the stadium, but the Professors couldn't see them as they had all been instructed back to the castle only moments before by Professor Dumbledore. As inconspicuous as possible, Harry slipped the silver cylinder back up his sleeve and felt it disappear from his hand.

"That's it, I've had enough!" Snape was shouting as the three slowly touched down back on Terra Firma. "Potter, you're going to be expelled for that little stunt. You caused that ball to nearly hit me in the chest, only a foot difference and I might have been killed. I'll see you arrested and thrown into prison for this."

Dumbledore hadn't done anything but stand there with his blue eyes twinkling a little throughout the entire rant by his Potions Professor. "Now then, Severus, I'm sure that it was not young Harry's intention to cause the ball to go astray, was it, young man?" He looked over his spectacles only to find that Harry had gone over and stood before Professor McGongall.

"Professor, if I might." Harry was speaking and concentrating solely on her, shutting out the other two. "The enchantments on the Quidditch equipment keep the balls protected so that before each game they are tested to be sure that they are not tampered with, is that correct?" At the woman's stunned nod he continued. "Therefore I would have had to not only break through the enchantments along the balls that protected them before or during the game in order to do anything to them, is that correct?" McGonagall had nodded again, but Harry wasn't done. "If that would be the case then the enchantments protecting the balls are either failing or I must have done something very wrong."

"Why would you come to that conclusion, Mister Potter?" McGonagall asked even as the other two were opening their mouths to say something.

Harry was pacing slightly with his hands clasped behind his back. "I'm only a first year student, not growing up knowing about magic, I don't know the limitations of such, if there are any to begin with. Therefore I would assume that since I've only had my wand for a few months now that I wouldn't know how to break any enchantments such as the protections surrounding the Quidditch equipment, and even had I done so then sending it to nearly kill myself would have been a rather foolish notion." He held up his hand that was now twirling his wand between his fingers. "Then again, the simplest answer was that someone else was trying to kill me."

Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling once more as he sidelled up towards the pair and seemed to almost physically push McGonagall out of Harry's sight. "Nonsense, my boy. I'm sure that you're just exaggerating or overly paranoid. Hogwarts is the safest place in Britain."

Harry merely shook his head and then dropped his voice. "The third floor corridor is out of bounds for anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death." To finish the imitation he even gave a solemn shake of his head. He had to admit that it was rather spot on and even the twitching of McGonagall's lips showed that she might have enjoyed it as well.

McGonagall recovered the fastest of the staff and coughed loudly to gain their attention. "Mister Potter, a full investigation will be conducted taking your statements into account." She waved her hands to the still remaining members of the house Quidditch team. "If the rest of you will escort Mister Potter up to the dormitories where you will be joining the rest of your house for dinner." The glare that she sent at Dumbledore made him close his mouth as the students filed off the field and up towards the castle.


	12. Inferno

**A/N The long awaited update is finally here! I'm sorry, but between chasing my toddler son around the house and work it's hard to get in a good chapter in time. I will leave a disclaimer on this chapter for future one's that says basically that all my work is un-Betaed so if you find something like grammar, spelling, or the usage of pronouns to be off, let me know and I'll fix it. On a related note, anyone that wants to be my Beta, send me a message.**

Albus Dumbledore was not known to be a very patient person. Sure, most everyone saw the grandfatherly act that he was able to pull off more often than not, but there were only a select few individuals that knew that the infamous wizard hated to wait on anyone. He believed himself to be better than most, higher than the average wizard, and it infuriated him that things were not done to his liking. He expected most of the jobs to be done when he assigned them if not immediately after some other life threatening crisis; the fact that he would have to wait on anything like a normal wizard never truly entered into his mind. It was because of this attitude that he was rather miserable and getting increasingly angry sitting in his office doing absolutely nothing.

He slowly drummed his fingers against the mahogany desk before him, letting each digit strike the surface before pulling it back. The sound echoed in the empty round room for a moment and then disappeared into the stones of the school. His eyes were permanently fixed on the fireplace watching and waiting for the flames to turn green or for something to occur. He had been sitting here like this for what felt like hours, and what in actuality were only a few minutes. The source of his impatient attitude was a missive that was still open on his desk.

_In answer to your repeated requests, the panel has not been able to convene since the initial inquiry into the young man's health and well being at school. Should you provide more details as to his first ten years, the process may move ahead more smoothly, until that time, it is more prudent to wait on the decision of the committee._

_Sincerely,_

_Amicalus Orilius_

Dumbledore stared at the words as if his very attention could divine more meaning into them than what was currently written. The committee had left Hogwarts some time before after questioning nearly every first year and second year student, several of the staff, and even the ghosts. He had thought that all of that investigating would give them all the answers that they needed to make a swift and decisive action, but again he was proven wrong. He was starting to really hate being wrong all the time.

The head of the committee had sent him a letter not one week ago in answer to his request that he be notified when the decision was made. Originally he had thought that the members would disappear from Hogwarts and he would get a letter the next day saying that he would retain full custody over the boy even from his muggle relatives. After two weeks of hearing nothing he had sent a nicely worded letter making sure that they still knew of his request. The answer had been short on actual information and long-winded in the old Victorian style that was still prevalent. Apparently the committee had some more questions about how Harry had been raised the last ten years if he was not with Dumbledore, as it seemed unlikely that the old man had raised the child himself.

Albus' usual answer of "he had to be hidden for his own safety" did not go over well and the increased requests for the boys current living conditions were getting worse and worse. He knew that he couldn't reveal too much about the boy's past and where he had grown up or he would never get any kind of control over the boy. His last attempt at controlling him was influencing who he was friends with and it only took a moment to look at the group that he surrounded himself with to see that the scheme had fallen apart spectacularly.

He rubbed his eyes a little and slipped his glasses down to the edge of his nose to get at the bridge. He could feel the old break acting up again and this time it wasn't because of the weather. Pushing the spectacles back up high on his face he turned his eyes away from the fireplace and towards the small tracker that had been placed on the invisibility cloak. He had heard from Molly that Ron planned to give the cloak back to Harry as a peace offering on the train back from the Christmas holidays. He had gotten a howler a few days later saying that the boy not only refused Ron's hand of friendship, once again, but that he slandered the name Weasley; the fact that Ron deserved a talking to for his own actions came no where near the mind of either adult.

The tracker was a small castle in the shape of Hogwarts that he could open up and see down into that laid out most of the floor plan of each of the levels. That was of course if the small glowing green dot ever moved, and so far it hadn't. The dot had stayed quite firmly in the tallest tower that he knew to be Gryffindor dormitories since the start of classes. He had thought he had seen it move once or twice, but upon further inspection he saw that it hadn't at all. What was even more worrying is that it would flicker once in a while and then come back as if nothing had happened; he consoled himself thinking that the wards around the castle were simply interfering with the magic and left it at that.

No, what was worrying the old man more than anything was the fact that his entire plan for Harry Potter seemed to have gone out the window some time ago. He had somehow gotten a hold of his first letter and sent back a rather curt reply saying that he would attend, this prevented Albus from having a reason to send Hagrid that would get the boy ingrained to him. Without the friendship of the giant, he feared the boy might gain some dangerous ideas about him and end up in Slytherin, or worse, Ravenclaw. The fact that he had ended up in Gryffindor like he was supposed to was a small victory, but that was overshadowed by his continued rebuffing of Ronald Weasley's friendship. The plan had been perfect to introduce the boys by not telling Harry how to get on the platform, but somehow he had anyway. Dumbledore was starting to think that maybe someone magical was helping him in some way, but that seemed preposterous as the wards around Privet Drive would have alerted him to any magical presence, even his own.

The fireplace flared green startling the old man out of his thoughts only briefly as he put on the grandfatherly look and smiled as a head slowly revolved around the fireplace to stop staring up at him. The fact that it was the bald man he was expecting made him smile genuinely. "Amicalus, a pleasure to see you once again. I hope that you are here to save me from the tedium of paperwork." He swept his arm to show the stacks of parchment giving a small chuckle; the fact that most of the parchment was completely blank never entered into the man in the fireplace.

"Of course, Albus. Thought you ought to know that we've been attempting to get in contact with Mister Potter's muggle relatives as you have told us before that it is there that he normally resides during the summer and winter holidays." If the man saw Albus' mask of happiness slip for a moment he wisely didn't say anything.

"Of what use could you to contact some muggles?" Albus chuckled a little and waved his hand in the air dismissing the entire affair. "I know of how to contact them if you let me know what you need. The wards that I placed around the house are quite specific about who can send mail and who may come onto the property."

The man in the fireplace nodded slowly. "Be that as it may, Albus, we have some questions about the boys upbringing that we need to be addressed." He seemed to look the side for a moment and then turned back. "I've also been told that his magical guardianship has been sealed."

This was news to the old man as everyone he talked to he made sure that they knew that he was the boy's magical guardian. The fact that it could have been differently didn't enter into his mind as he had taken steps to eliminate any other contenders. "I'm sure that the goblins are just being thorough. If I were to come down personally and speak with them…"

The man was nodding enthusiastically. "They're saying that they need a signature from the guardian in question to validate anything and release the files to us. It would also be of your benefit to speak with the muggles and get them to sign off on the change of guardianship as well, it would make the process a whole lot simpler for all of us involved."

The old headmaster didn't want to go anywhere near Privet Drive as the last interaction he had with Petunia Dursley ended up in her shrieking at him and nearly clawing his eyes out. He winced a little as he touched the small scar above his knee from where she nailed him with a vase of, oddly enough, petunias. "I'm sure that if I speak with the goblins on the matter we need not involve the muggles."

The man was already shaking his head. "It's rather a pickle that we've found ourselves in at the moment, Albus. The boy has representation in the muggle world, that is for sure, but it is the magical guardianship that is still in question over here." He paused for a reaction, but continued when he got none. "Everyone knows that you were awarded the boy, but putting him in the muggle world has added some complications. Dealing with their Child Services has caused a few eyebrows to be raised down here at our own Ministry."

Dumbledore shook his head slowly at the slowness of the Ministry as well as having to deal with the muggle side of things. He was much more knowledgeable about their government than most, but even he didn't know how long the bureaucracy would take. "Is there any way that the goblins could at least verify that he has the correct guardianship?"

The man's head in the fire slowly nodded. "Like I told you before, if you could get a signature from the guardian transferring custody over to you…" He seemed to shrug for a moment before looking over his shoulder at something and then coming back. "I'm told that the Child Services have similar custody issues. If you can get the guardians of Harry Potter to sign forms for custody over to you then you should be good. Although, we're still straightening out who exactly has guardianship at the time."

Dumbledore nodded slowly and closed his eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment before looking back into the flames and the eyes of the man there. "Very well, very well, send over the forms and I'll see about getting them signed."

"But Albus, no one knows…"

"I know of a way of contacting young Potter during the summer. I'm sure that I can arrange for his guardians to sign over custody for me, at least in the short term." Dumbledore was starting to get aggravated at the man in the fireplace and his tone showed it.

The man huffed a little indignantly, put out by the tone of the other man's voice. "Other than a few superficial things in the school the committee has been alarmed at the number of complaints being issued against your Potions Master."

Dumbledore was no longer really listening to what he was saying, simply waving his hands a little. His mind was already filled with ideas of how to get the Dursley's to agree to a change of custody. Perhaps exemplifying the danger that they would all be in should Harry stay with them for another few years. "Yes, yes, I'll be sure to take care of it, as always."

The man in the fire narrowed his eyes and huffed a little more. "We're also a little concerned over the mental stability of a few students. Most notably Mister Ronald Weasley and Mister Draco Malfoy, it seems that they-"

"Yes, yes, I'll take care of it." Albus nodded absentmindedly as he was already thinking about other things. He had his eyes fixed on the perch of his familiar and was no longer really listening.

"But Albus, you don't seem to understand. The boys both have a rather unhealthy obsession with-" The man started again, but he was again cut off prematurely.

"Good day!" Albus called as he waved his hand and cut the connection in the fire short. The man's head seemed to be surprised as it whirled away into nothingness. In a few short moments the entire office was silent except for the steady puffing and beeping of the various instruments thrown around the room.

"Now then…" Dumbledore rubbed his hands together a little as he looked over the parchment strewn desk. "I must draw up a binding contract, one that the Dursleys would agree to, but would also give me more control over Mister Potter." He shuffled a few pieces of parchment around on the desk for a moment before finding a blank one and started to pull it towards him. "I'll have to visit the Dursleys at some point." He shuddered slightly, unconsciously rubbing at his left knee under the desk while his right hand continued to scratch out on the parchment.

Unnoticed by Dumbledore a small painting in the side of the office held a single occupant. The young man within it shook his head a little and then stared around the office. Most of the portraits of past Head teachers were bound to keep the current Head's secrets, but it didn't mean that they had to like that person. Currently, Albus Dumbledore wasn't all that liked by many of the other occupants of the office, not that he took any particular notice of them at the best of times. This lone occupant however, was different from the rest. He looked over at Fawkes and gave a small slow nod before stepping to the left of his frame and disappearing.

XoXo

The fervor over the Quidditch match incident lasted for quite some time, many people asking questions and getting very few answers. What they did know was that someone had jinxed a bludger while it was still in the air, something that was thought to be incredibly difficult. When Dumbledore or any of the other teachers didn't offer up any explanation to the students, indeed it looked as if they were doing no investigation into the incident at all; most of the students came up with their own theories. These theories ranged from the plausible, such as a student using very advanced dark magic, to the completely implausible, such as the widely held belief that some poltergeist had infected the ball and was, even now, possessing it waiting for another victim. The excitement did have the added effect of adding two more people to a small group of friends.

One at least was more than welcome to join while the other one was more of a hanger on. Daphne and Hermione welcomed the addition of Marietta Edgecomb as the three girls now had more to talk about and there were interesting chats between the girls about theories of elemental transfiguration and the enchantment of objects. It was Cho that was barely tolerated as an addition to the little group. She rarely talked with the other girls instead preening her hair before a mirror or attempting to get the attention of Harry when he was around them. It was to the disappointment of his friends that he would still disappear at odd points, sometimes just before classes began, only to show up a few minutes before the bell without a real explanation.

After the last incident that Daphne found Harry on the second floor covered in black grime and grumbling about bringing food to someone that the group called an intervention. It was how the four girls and Neville found themselves seated in an unused classroom discussing the situation at length. While Daphne and Hermione showed concern for their friend, Neville remembered what happened at Halloween and knew that while their friend might disappear at odd times and showed some interesting behavior thus far, he could handle himself.

"But what if he's dabbling in some dark arts?" Hermione complained when Neville brought out his logical argument. She and Daphne had taken to pacing the floor in opposite directions, passing one another every few seconds in the middle of the floor and heading back the way the other had come.

"I don't think that he really has the personality for it, to be honest with you." Daphne spoke slowly as if she were still working things out in her own mind. "I've seen the older housemates of mine that I know for a fact are already using the Dark Arts and you can see a certain….darkness around them." She gave a small shudder that made her pause in her pacing.

Marietta was sitting next to Neville on a desk swinging her legs off the edge of it. "I don't think that's it. He's keeping secrets from us, that's for sure, but even in the short span of time that I've gotten to know him it seems like he's a very private person."

Neville nodded from where he was seated and looked around the room. "I think that he'll let us know what he's up to in due time, we just have to give him that time to come to us."

Hermione huffed and put her fists on her hips as she stared at the others. Her mouth had gone open clearly wanting to get into a nice long rant, but Cho's voice flitted from the corner of the room. "Do you think Harry would like my hair up or down?" The Asian Ravenclaw had perched herself on the unused teacher's desk with a hand mirror in one hand and the other moving her hair up and down as if trying out different hair styles.

The others looked at her for a moment before Marietta rolled her eyes and turned back to the others. "On a more important topic, do we actually know where Harry is at this moment?"

Neville shook his head slowly at first and then looked up when there was a banging noise. Hermione had resorted to kicking a nearby desk in frustration. "It'll do no good to really look for him, if he doesn't want to be found, he won't be."

Marietta was nodding again as Daphne and Hermione had taken up to pacing back and forth again, crossing in the middle of the room. "What we really need is a plan to talk to him if and when he wants to talk."

Neville shrugged and then looked up as there seemed to be a commotion outside the classroom door. He moved towards it and put a hand on the knob. "You can do what you want, but I think that we'll just have to give Harry a little time before he's really ready to come to us with whatever is going on." He pulled the door open and nearly had to jump back as Seamus Finnigan had come barreling down the hallway supporting a whimpering and pathetic looking form of Ron Weasley.

"It bit me, it really bit me…..oh, I think I'm going woozy….does this look infected to you?" Ron was holding up a large bandaged hand that had stained with blood. From the small bits of the flesh underneath that Neville could see it looked like it was starting to turn green.

Seamus had pushed his hand away. "Not here, Ron, we have to get you to Madam Pomfrey."

"What happened to you?" Neville had come out into the open and was starting to move in front of his roommates.

Seamus dodged around Neville, quickly pulling Ron away with him. "Nothing, nothing to worry about Neville. Ron just got bitten by something of Hagrid's, that's all. No need to worry." They had disappeared around the corner a moment later.

"I wonder what that was all about." Hermione and Daphne had come crowding around the entrance to the classroom and were looking out around the corner trying to get a glance at Ron and Seamus disappearing. Daphne was the one that was talking while Hermione had adopted a thoughtful look on her face.

"Hagrid's got a new pet." The voice startled the three and they nearly collapsed into a large heap of limbs. Turning up towards them they saw that Harry was grinning and standing leaning against a nearby wall.

Marietta giggled a little as she looked down at Neville, Hermione and Daphne trying to untangle each other on the floor. "Hey, Harry, where have you been?"

At the mention of Harry's name, Cho had jumped up off the desk that she was sitting on and had started a mad dash across the room to get towards the still open door. Marietta stuck out her foot and the Asian witch tripped, hitting the ground and sliding into the tangle of arms and legs that was Daphne, Hermione, and Neville. Marietta simply snickered as the pile of people went down once more and started to desperately fight against one another to get up, only causing another person to fall back down onto the pile.

"Ron's robes were singed around the bottom as well as the bite on his hand." Harry spoke softly and surely to Marietta as the others were still fighting on the ground.

"You think Hagrid's got a dragon? Uf…" Hermione tried to stand again only to have her ankles cut out from under her by Cho rolling into them. "Ouch…that's my foot, Daphne."

"How is it that you seem to know everything that goes on around here?" Marietta put her hands on her hips and glared at Harry, but he didn't seem to be affected by it at all. Indeed he hopped over his struggling friends and started to pace in the room.

"Oh, I'm not omniscient or anything like that, especially not the way Dumbledore pretends to be." He continued to pace as his friends were able to smooth themselves out and drag Cho back into the room to close the door. "No, no, my dad has faced zombies, the destruction of the entire universe and even Mara, a snake god, but dragons is a little new." He shook his head as he ran a hand through his hair impatiently. "That's not true, although the only time he actually met a dragon it turned out to be a fake."

"A fake dragon, how do you do that?" Hermione had sat down on a desk next to Neville. The boy was trying to help her to smooth down her robes causing them both to flush a little.

Harry waved away her comment a little and smiled. "Oh, it was just a guardian for some treasure or another. I think the way he tells it, the guardian was some sort of robot or another. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. What is important however is that I know what happened on Halloween."

"I thought we already knew about that." Daphne spoke as she was smirking at Neville and Hermione. The pair had tried to hide their flushed faces by turning away from one another. Hermione had stuck out her tongue when she saw that Daphne was smirking at her.

"Besides…" Hermione was trying to recover from the embarrassment that Daphne was still glaring at them for. Neville had ducked his head a little, but still glared at the girl from across the room. "We really should be studying for our exams you know."

Marietta shrugged while Cho went to sit on the top of a nearby desk. The Asian Ravenclaw had watched Harry pace back and forth like a hungry lion and was now preening in an attempt to catch his attention. "Most of the Ravenclaws have already made up schedules and such so you can always find a study group in the library if you want, even if they are several weeks away."

Hermione favored the girl with a smile while still trying to maintain her glare against Daphne. "We should set up a schedule for ourselves as well, a little study group of our own."

Harry waved his hand away as if the exams didn't matter to him at all. Indeed he didn't seem to be putting much thought into the school work of the others and continued to be pacing. "I've been studying for a while under some rather fine tutors so I think that I should be good. I can always show you some of the things that I've learned over the years, of course." The others looked rather enthusiastic about this, but he had already moved on. "There's something that I'm missing, some vital piece of information that should be falling into place around now, but it's not."

Neville shrugged. Harry's friends had gotten used to him thinking out loud by now and had really stopped answering him and letting him think. While it was true that sometimes Harry did enjoy a little going back and forth to get him thinking, his friends were sometimes lost in the jumble. "I wonder where Hagrid got a dragon egg from, if Harry is to be believed, they're supposed to be illegal in Britain."

"Completely hypocritical if you ask me. The Ministry employs things like Dementors that are a hundred times worse than any dragon and they ban dragons because muggles could possibly see them." Harry was shaking his head, but then stopped all together and cocked his head to the side a little. "Dementors guard Azkaban, something very valuable and if anyone got near to them, even Aurors they would be rather affected wouldn't they?"

Marietta didn't have enough experience with Harry to know where he was going with certain things. She had sat down on the edge of a desk and swinging her feet while she watched the others. "My mum works in the Ministry and she always tells me that Aurors hate going out to that place, something about how the Dementors affect everyone, not just the prisoners there."

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "Honestly, the rather inhumane treatment of prisoners in the magical world is appalling. The muggles have passed laws about treatment of even war criminals."

Neville shrugged as he continued to watch Harry seemingly stare at a random stone on the wall nearby. "I don't think that we should be worrying about the wider world at the moment. The incident at the Quidditch match still has people talking and wondering if someone is out to get you, Harry."

Harry shrugged and waved it off again as he started to pace. "There's always someone trying to kill me, most of the time it's from the shadows so it's nothing really all that new. The issue that I have with it is the fact that it was an amateur attempt that was doomed to failure from the beginning."

Marietta opened her mouth to protest, but at a look from Daphne she seemed to think better of it. "What do you mean that it was an amateur attempt? And just how many times has your life been in danger exactly?"

Harry actually flushed a little and wouldn't meet Daphne's eyes. "Not that much, I'm sure. You have more danger in falling off a broom or a stray curse hitting you while at home than I've gotten into. As to your other question, the assassin, if it was his intention to kill me, it wasn't very smart to do it at a Quidditch match in full view of all the teachers and students. They didn't seem to be all that concerned about who they hurt." He pointed to Marietta and Cho. Cho was still preening herself and trying to catch Harry's eye while she brushed out her long black hair over her shoulder.

Daphne nodded thoughtfully while the others looked a little shocked at the reasoning that Harry was showing to them. "There was very little cunning involved in it. If someone wanted to hurt you that resided in the school itself, all they had to do was attack you while you were walking to or from class, or even while you were just with us. As first years, we don't have that much magical knowledge to fend off a really dark attack which the Quidditch match surely was."

Neville nodded along with her explanation and then picked it up as well. "Weasley is going off on how it had to have been Malfoy, but that's just ridiculous. To force a bludger like that to do something that it wasn't designed for would take a seriously powerful wizard, or some really dark magic."

"And as I was pointing out to these knuckleheads before you arrived Harry…" Daphne snickered as Neville and Hermione both stuck out their tongues at the pronouncement. "….there's a feeling for dark magic and those that have used it before. Malfoy's clean for the time being, but I don't doubt that by third year he'll be dabbling in it at home, if not sooner."

"The only other culprit, according to Weasley and Finnigan, has to be Professor Snape." Neville was listing off as he moved to stop Hermione from pacing along with Harry. He put his hand on her shoulder and guided her back to the desk where they sat down and leaned against one another.

Marietta was the one that shook her head this time. "Just because Snape hates Harry because of his father doesn't mean that he's going to try and kill him. Besides, he wouldn't be a Slytherin if he did it that way, would he?"

Hermione seemed deep in thought and looked up at the mention of Slytherin. "Whoever that is trying to hurt Harry isn't being subtle about it, it's like they want everyone to know what they're doing."

"That pretty much rules out all of Slytherin then, doesn't it?" Neville asked with a grin to Daphne. She stuck her tongue out at him in response. "They wouldn't do it obviously and instead work from the shadows or have someone else take the fall if they are caught."

Daphne was tapping her finger against her chin. "While it's true that most Slytherins would operate that way, it's possible that they want the glory to themselves. They want to make sure that everyone knows who did it and why. Killing Harry would be a huge boon for any dark family that once supported the Dark Lord, so if they could prove that they did it, then all the more prestige to them."

"Even if that's true, killing Harry would bring the might of the Ministry down on top of whoever did it, especially right now. The smart thing would be to wait until the tide of public opinion turns against Harry before making a move." Marietta shrugged at the looks of confusion that she got from the others. "People love a hero, but the masses like to read trashy novels about heroes being torn down and made into villains."

"I have no doubt that it'll happen just like that." Harry's voice startled a few of them since they hadn't remembered that he was still there. His eyes had a small tinge of gold in them as he spoke. "It'll probably be over something stupid and easily fixable, but the damage will be done."

Marietta groaned and rubbed at her forehead for a moment before shaking her head. "We're not really getting anywhere at the moment with the Quidditch incident." She sighed and looked around the room. "Should we start to study then or did Harry here want to talk about Halloween again?"

Harry shrugged. "I was only thinking about the fact that while everyone was running away from a troll, there was someone heading up to the third floor corridor."

"The one that assures us a horrible and gruesome death?" Daphne perked up a little at this. "Come on, I'm game."

Hermione giggled at her friend and shook her head. "No, Daphne, we're not going to go off and get us all killed….again. The troll was bad enough."

Neville had gone white at the mention of death and was shaking his head quickly. "I can't believe Dumbledore would tell us all that. It's like asking for trouble."

Harry chuckled. "I personally think that he's loosing a little grip on reality. He forgot that teenagers are prone to go where they're told not to."

Daphne giggled and shook her head. "Nah, I bet he wants us to go after whatever is there. I wouldn't doubt that some of the seventh years have already tried."

Marietta nodded her head slowly and then dropped it down to her chest as if in embarrassment. "I heard a few in the common room talking about trying to get up there. Apparently there's a locked door and something rather large and ferocious on the other side."

Neville snapped his fingers as he suddenly had a thought. "That's what Weasley was talking about. He was going on and on about some three headed dog that he and Finnigan had seen one night while running from Filch."

Harry groaned and put his face in his hands. "I can't be sure, but I'm going to be blamed for this somehow." He paused and then shook his head. "No….no one is that stupid….are they?"

"What are you thinking, Harry?" Daphne leaned forward a little on the desk and watched him intently. The others followed suit, Cho continued to preen and part her hair in different styles, still staring at Harry wantonly.

"Weasley gave me a package at Christmas, said that it came from someone else, a family heirloom is what he said. I have many of my family's former possessions except for a handful that had been confiscated by the Ministry or Dumbledore after their deaths. If Weasley and Finnigan were sneaking around after hours, I wonder if they were trying to entice me to do so." The others simply didn't have an answer for what was going on, but they did know for sure that it had to deal with the third floor corridor and it wasn't good.

Neville was thinking about something that was said before and turned towards Marietta thoughtfully. "You just said that some older students had figured out where the door was, but couldn't get past it, right?"

Marietta nodded slowly. "They kept going on and on about some wards being around the door and not knowing enough to get through them, why?"

Hermione snapped her fingers and turned towards Neville. "That can't be right though, Weasley and Finnigan have been through the door, how else would they know that the room contained a three headed dog?"

Daphne stood up and was slowly mirroring Harry still pacing. They would move to the center of the room and then break off towards the opposite sides of the room. "If that's true then whatever wards are around the door must be some kind of monitoring ward. Maybe it works on some kind of recognition signature."

"With Weasley and Finnigan keyed in, for what purpose? No, we're missing something bigger here." Harry continued to pace as he ran his fingers through his hair. It was a nervous habit that he had picked up from his father sometimes while he was thinking. "Missing, Missing, what's missing? We have the people on the board, but not the purpose."

Daphne sighed, shaking her head as she rubbed her temples with her index fingers. "We're not getting anywhere fast with whatever this is. I suggest we table the entire thing for the moment and study for what we do know to be coming up."

The group groaned, even Cho seemed to pick up on what the Slytherin was asking the group to do. "I suppose you're right." Hermione slid down off the desk and looked around the classroom. "I guess this is as good a place as any. We should start meeting up here every day until exams so that we can revise."

XoXo

Weasley and Finnigan were missing in class the next day and while many Gryffindors were a little unsettled by their disappearance, the teachers seemed confident about what was going on. McGonagall assured everyone that the two first years were perfectly fine and just in the hospital wing for an unexplained ailment. The only information that Harry or his friends could get was that the two boys in question had been helping Hagrid on the grounds when they were injured. Since it was so close to what Harry knew about the dragon, there was little doubt in the minds of the close friends that one or both had been bitten or worse by the dragon.

The group kept up their studies in the new room that they had dubbed their own. It wasn't long before other students began to notice that members of at least three different houses were all meeting together in the same classroom to study. Hufflepuffs felt a little left out of the small group of friends, but were willing to come and study with them for the time being. Harry was knowledgeable about a number of subjects even if sometimes his mind would wander with his mouth and it would take some time to get back to the subject at hand. One time he had gone off on a lengthy discussion with a muggleborn Hufflepuff about the intricacies of space travel given that his father works for the European Space Agency complete with hand drawn diagrams on the floors of the classroom.

If the disappearance of the dragon was in question, the entire student population was favored with a show that Saturday. Since it was warming considerably a few people had gone out onto the grounds to enjoy the weather after doing their homework. Harry and his friends had finished up their essays in the early morning hours in the library before heading out of the castle to enjoy the sunshine with the rest of the castle. The Weasley twins were throwing pieces of bred and a large red ball out into the lake and a tentacle would pick up the ball and throw it back after a while. The four girls shed their robes displaying their legs while the boys simply lay down on their backs and stared up at the sky.

"It really is rather nice this time of year up here." Hermione pulled off her shoes and socks, sticking them together as she flexed her toes into the grass. Daphne had already done the same, tucking her feet up under her skirt while Marietta and Cho were still in their Mary Janes. "I hope that the weather holds, I would hate to have to go back to wearing such heavy winter wear."

Daphne stuck out her tongue a little. "At least you didn't have to worry about fur cloaks all year around like I've heard of some of the other schools."

"Really, I did a comprehensive study of-" Hermione's voice was broken off by a ferocious roar behind the group along with several other hurried voices.

"It's no good, stunners quickly!" The voice was gruff and a moment later the area around Hagrid's cabin was alight with red lights shooting off in all directions.

Harry had already hopped to his feet, but was staying where he was out of respect for Hagrid as well as the possibility of getting hurt. After the bludger incident he had tried to explain to the girls that these sorts of things just happen, there was no need to worry about the fact that he was almost killed. The girls on the other hand had other ideas and were starting to watch him like a hawk to be able to keep him out of danger. This didn't stop him from wandering around the castle by himself or his uncanny ability to slip out of their sight for only a moment and seem to get a day's work done. For now, Harry was going to abide by their threats and leave the heroic stuff for later, when it was usually most needed.

"What's going on?" One of the Weasley twins had come back up with the soaping wet Quaffle tucked under his arm while the other was still flinging the rest of a loaf of bread out to the Giant Squid. A small crowd had gathered near the hut, but no one was willing to get too close to it.

"It's the dragon of course." Harry spoke with confidence, but no one outside his usual friends gave him any mind. They had gotten used to his cryptic remarks and odd insights in the past. Hermione and Neville had also started to notice the light glow of his eyes when he was saying things that seemed to be true.

"Cor she's a big one." The gruff voice was back, but this time it was augmented by other shouts and grunts. In a moment the owner of the voice had come around the edge of the hut carrying what appeared to be a large snake that trailed away from him towards the back of the hut.

"That's Charlie!" The twin nearest to them exclaimed. Indeed the young man looked a lot like the other Weasleys that they had met previously with a shock of red hair and broad shoulders. He was wearing a black sleeveless shirt that showed off a shiny burn on his right arm and a few scars that crisscrossed his back. Some of the boys could actually feel a few older girls swooning at the sight.

"Charlie?" Hermione knew that there were other Weasleys, but to be encountering one was another thing entirely.

"Yeah, one of our older brothers. There's Bill, Charlie, Percy, us, Ron, and our little sister Ginny." The twin that had been at the shore had come up behind them and was shielding his eyes from the sun to get a better look down towards the cabin. "He's usually off at the Dragon preserve in Romania though, wonder why he's here?"

Neville rolled his eyes as Hermione palmed her face. "Don't even say it, Harry." Her voice was muffled through her hand, but she seemed to already know that Harry wore a triumphant grin.

Sure enough after a few minutes Charlie had emerged from behind the hut fully with three or four other men and one woman carrying a long green scaly body. The head was being supported on a levitated bed that looked to be about three times the size of a normal Hogwarts four poster. After the dragon came a crying Hagrid being comforted by Dumbledore with soft pats on the shoulder and the large upper arm. The strange party made a show of moving through the crowds of students, even though the students had parted back some twenty feet away from the moving dragon, and going down to the gates of the school. Once past the gates the Headmaster produced something from within his robes that caused the dragon and all who touched it to disappear and in brief flash of light.

"Someone's going to be blamed for it." Daphne sighed as she looked between the crying Hagrid and the castle behind them. "I'm sure that someone blabbed, but I can't imagine Finnigan or Weasley to do such a thing."

Weasley One had scowled at her declaration, probably because he didn't realize that she was there at first. "Probably Malfoy, the git. He's been slinking around our brother for several weeks now."

Daphne held up her hands in defense. "Come on, boys, you know that not everyone is a git like Malfoy, same as not every Gryffindor is brash and quick to jump to conclusions like your brother." She was trying to discretely point to Harry behind his back, but everyone seemed to get the idea.

Weasley Two deflated a little and waved off his brother. "Yes, Yes, we all know about Ronnikins delusions of grandeur. Mum seems to think that it's because of the Boy-Who-Lived bedtime stories."

Weasley One snapped his fingers and looked a little anxious. "You don't think we're going to have something similar happen next year with Ginny."

Hermione gave a small giggle as Harry slapped his face with his hand and ran it over slowly. "At least that'll be the last of your family into Hogwarts." He paused and looked up at the grinning twins. "Right? There's no hidden Weasleys that we should be worried about, right?" The look of innocence and confusion as well as the shrugging of shoulders did nothing to calm the nerves of anyone present.


	13. The Seeds of Doom

A/N: I apologize for taking so long with this, but I had deviated into a lot of other story ideas and had just started to come back to this. My muse is unfortunately lacking in certain areas, so feedback is greatly appreciated. I'll probably post a shortened version of some of my unfinished stories to see if I should bother trying to finish a few of them. As always, please enjoy and I don't own anything.

The fervor in the press about the escaped dragon loose at Hogwarts lasted for about three days as the headline of the _Daily Prophet_. Reporters swarming the front gates of the old castle had been politely turned away the first two days and then simply left after the third when it became apparent that there was no real scandal involved in the dragon's appearance at the school. Rumors continued to fly throughout the castle about what actually happened as none of the stories matched up, but the general magical population was satisfied with the story that they were told and it seemed to be held up by several facts of the case. In any case the reporters lost interest in the story that they had found and went on to ponder over whether or not the Minister for Magic was having an affair with his Senior Undersecretary, a thought that had many simultaneously dry-heaving and scratching their heads in bewilderment.

The _Daily Prophet_ reported that Hagrid had gotten the egg from a trader in a pub after a game of cards. He was led to believe that it contained a rare species of fire crab. While the Ministry generally wishes to know when new or rare species are being bred there is no real regulation for the control of such a small and insignificant animal. Ronald Weasley and Seamus Finnigan were said to have been helping the gamekeeper keep the egg well warmed and well stocked so that when it hatched they would be ready to take care of it. Hagrid had mentioned that he wanted to hand it over to Professor Kettleburn, the Care ofMagical Creatures, teacher for study once it had hatched and was proven to be viable. This all went downhill when the egg hatched.

Realizing that they had made a mistake in identifying the egg, the two students and gamekeeper went immediately to Professor Dumbledore to find out what to do about it. It was Dumbledore whom had suggested bringing in Ronald's older brother Charlie and his team of dragon tamers from the preserve in Romania. The idea was to get the dragon sedated while it was too young to really fight off a coordinated attack and then silently slip it out the front gates. How they expected to slip out unnoticed with a several hundred pound baby dragon, no one really questioned, but because so many students were outside on that particular day, everyone got to see what happened.

To this end, while the papers were giving up on the story, the student body was filled with wild speculation. Most students agreed that there had to be more to the story than what was printed in the newspaper as they had seen some of the events unfold first hand, but they simply didn't know where to turn for that information. They had seen Hagrid bemoaning the loss of the dragon, not to mention the size of the thing spoke volumes as to how long Ron and Seamus had waited in order to tell Professor Dumbledore. There were also stories of Ron showing up in the hospital wing with a bloody and greenish tinged hand and mumbling something about a teddy bear and a dragon. This all added up to while the rest of the magical community was satisfied to put the matter to bed and move on to a more juicy topic; a married celebrity witch was seen coming out of a restaurant with a different man, the students of Hogwarts were still buzzing about the dragon.

Harry had taken to wandering around the grounds a little and looking around at odd things on the castle, normally pointing at specific points on the battlements and shaking his head. He had talked with Hagrid about the incident and had gotten to know the gentle giant after a time. It seemed that Ron and Seamus wanted nothing to do with the man now that the dragon had been taken care of.

"It's all right, Hagrid." Harry patted the man's large arm as they sat at his large wooden table staring down into mugs of murky water that was supposed to be tea. "I'm sure that you'll see Norbert again."

This seemed to only make the large man cry harder as he snuffled like a baby into a large yellow bed sheet the size of a circus tent. While the larger man was a gentle creature he had a large nose to blow and so when he did it nearly made Harry's hair ruffle and knock him off the stool from the force. "It just that he's only a baby." Hagrid blew another loud blast into the sheet. "What if the other dragons pick on him for being so small?"

Harry simply patted the larger man's shoulder, or his lower arm as that was as high as he could get, even standing on this stool. Harry said no more about the fact that Norbert was nearly full grown for his species and decided to instead change the subject. "How did you expect to keep a dragon concealed on Hogwarts grounds anyway, Hagrid?"

Hagrid wiped his nose noisily for a moment before throwing it into a corner where another heap of laundry looked almost ready to grow legs and walk away. He rubbed at his nose another few times with the front of his hairy vest before leaning heavily on the old wooden table that separated Harry and himself. "I thought that I could try and train him, you know, make him me pet. Maybe even get him to defend the castle when he got a little bigger."

Harry's mind flashed to a similar statement that he had heard quite some time ago from one of his tutors and couldn't help but smile. "Dumbledore and some of the best warders that this world has seen in the last thousand years have put considerable effort into protecting this school." He patted the man's elbow once more. "I'm sure that they would be very proud that you wanted to protect your home and their school."

Hagrid chuckled lightly as he nodded and wiped his nose once more before downing the entire tankard of murky water before pulling a disgusted face. He grumbled a moment before shaking his head. "Don't know how Ron and Seamus put up with this stuff for so long. Should have just told me how bad it was." He rumbled slightly as he moved over towards the fireplace in order to bank the flames slightly. "I'll have to make another pot before you're able to go, Harry."

Harry smiled and raised his tankard into the air; it was a considerable feat as the thing was nearly the height of his own arm and weighed a possible ten pounds. "It's all right, Hagrid. I have to get back to the castle soon at any rate as it's nearly curfew."

Hagrid gave a little sigh as he looked out the window at the rapidly darkening sky and then nodding slowly. He had set the kettle on the small spit that traversed his fire and was letting the water boil slowly so that it would be still warm when he came back to it later. "Indeed, Harry, you should head back up before one of the Professors catches you out of bounds at night." He shrugged on the moleskin coat near the door. "I'll walk you at least to the doors, but you'll be on your own to get back to the common room on your own."

True to his word, Hagrid was able to escort Harry up to the castle and left him at the entrance doors with a small nod and a pat on the back that nearly sent the young man to his knees. Harry stood watching the large man disappear into the darkness as he made his way back to his hut before turning to brave the castle at night. He had been out a few times before with his friends as well as on his own during the night, but this was the first time that he had really been on his own in the dark. He knew the hallways well and kept his feet light so that they didn't make any noise, but he knew that he was nearly caught out when he heard voices coming nearby.

"…stated previously, the Dark Lord is no closer to divining how to get past the Cerberus than we had suspected." Professor Snape's voice was always the most recognizable voice in the entire castle. It had the same sneering and vindictive tones as Draco Malfoy's but seemed to be even deeper as if he had perfected it after years of trying.

Harry quickly moved into a nearby alcove and the knight statue that was nearby slid aside to protect his hiding spot. The statues were prone to moving around the hallways at night and sometimes even during the day; it confused the new students as they attempted to create landmarks to get to class if the landmark would change every few days or whenever they desired it to. Just as the statue had finished sliding to the left to disclose where Harry was hiding a pair of men came around the corner.

"Calm yourself, Severus. It does us no good to simply worry over things that cannot be controlled or foreseen." The garish purple and blue robes of the Headmaster were not needed as his irritatingly calm voice could be well heard in the darkened corridor. "I wonder how far he will progress when someone comes to stop him."

Snape made a small snort of anger. "The arrogant brat has flouted our laws and our customs. Do you know that he carries a muggle weapon wherever he goes?"

Dumbledore's voice sounded curious and a little cautionary as they had come close to the statue by now. "I wonder what you might mean, Severus. Both of us carry blades and it is well within the laws to do so."

Snape made another huff of annoyance. "It's not as elegant or as smooth crafted as a blade. I've seen it on a handful of occasions when the brat has decided to show off, particularly at that Quidditch match."

Here they had stopped almost directly in front of the statue, but it didn't seem like they knew that he was there as Dumbledore's voice was still as loud, but had dropped some of the congeniality. "You and I both know, Severus, that Harry had nothing to do with that. Voldemort is actively seeking the boy and, although it would be advantageous in later years, now is not the time for him to get so close to him."

Snape's voice was nearly growling as he snarled. "That boy should have been kicked out of Hogwarts long before now with his wand snapped. I don't understand how you can coddle the boy and still preach the same about differences."

"You mean the same way that you coddle your Slytherins." It was obvious that the man had hit a nerve by the sharp intake of breath. "Mister Malfoy seems especially interested in Mister Potter's behavior as of late and I find myself wondering what you're going to do if he pursues the current course that he is on."

Snape was now defensive. "Draco only needs to be shown the correct path and he'll follow it. It'll take some time to get him away from his father and mother's teachings."

"Yes, but which is the correct path, Severus?" Dumbledore's voice started to fade as he was moving away from the statue back along the path that the pair had been taking before stopping. "You seem confident in his abilities that he could be turned to the light, I believe our best course of action should be to do nothing to encourage or discourage his bigotry."

Snape seemed pleased with this. "Yes, as if we discipline him then he'll be more inclined to go with the power that offers him free reign over those that he believes are inferior to him." They were nearly to the end of the corridor when he finally spoke once more, his voice loud enough to reach down to where Harry was crouched. "What of the brainless oaf?"

Dumbledore heaved a great sigh before replying. "Hagrid is a good and loyal friend. When the time comes I suspect that he will be a great asset to our cause as well."

Snape gave a huff of anger and indifference just before the pair rounded the corner and disappeared from sight and hearing range. Even so, Harry waited a good five more minutes to be sure that they were well and truly away before slipping out from behind the statue. He gave it a small pat on the arm and a smile before slipping through the shadows back towards the common room. The journey gave him some time to think to himself while he dodged from one shadowy corner to the next, deftly avoiding both Professor McGonagall as well as Filch, the caretaker. It wasn't until he was almost at the common room in fact before he even ran into another student.

Neville had been huddled on the floor near the portrait of the fat lady apparently trying to sleep on the cold stones. He had wrapped his cloak around himself and tried to use it as a pillow at the same time, his body shaking from the cold. When he had felt someone shaking him awake he gave a startled yell and sat up quickly. "Harry?"

Harry groaned as he could even now hear the rustle of feet and paws as the other teachers were to have surly heard the racket that Neville had made. Instead of making a run for it, he sat down in front of his friend. "Why are you out here, Neville?"

The poor boy sniffled a little. "I forgot the password again and I couldn't find you or the others to tell it to me. Weasley was taunting me about not having friends and I just completely forgot all about the password."

Harry sighed and patted the poor boy on the shoulder. "It's all right, Neville, we'll work on your memory and your magic a little more when the time comes. Really it all comes down to confidence and a little self-respect."

Neville gave a small dry chuckle. "I've gotten a lot of that from being friends with you and the girls, but…" He lowered his voice a little. "Hermione still scares me something frightful."

Harry chuckled and patted his friend on the back even as the Professors were coming around the corner. "You and me both, Neville, you and me both."

McGonagall was the first to get to them and looked a little red in the face. If it was from running from the third floor or from the embarrassment of catching the two out after curfew, neither could guess. "Explain yourselves, this instant."

Harry had barely opened his mouth before the silky smooth tones of Snape could be heard from the other direction. He didn't look quite as out of breath, but there were beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "Clearly, Potter and Longbottom think that they're above the rules. Out plotting some prank or another against my Slytherins." He gave a disgusted sniff. "Just like their fathers before them."

Harry shook his head a little and fixed his eyes on a point on the stone wall between the two Professors. "You know, Professor Snape, carrying around that much anger and resentment for so long can have a very damaging effect on you. Professor McGonagall, we are out here because we both forgot the new password to the common room. We attempted to ask Weasley as he was by recently, but he gave a rather undignified answer and slammed the door in our faces."

Snape gave another sniff of disgust. "Is that the best you can come up with, Potter? That's pathetic. Detention, for the both of you with Hagrid tomorrow night, I hear that he has a small errand to run in the Forbidden Forest." He almost sounded giddy at that last point and his eyes sparkled maliciously.

Harry turned fully towards McGonagall, but the woman didn't say a word. Hauling himself up to his feet he offered a hand to his friend before favoring the old Scottish woman with a stare. "It's nice to know that we're allowed a fair hearing in Hogwarts. I believe your words were that our house was like our family." The voice was polite and to the point as he turned away back to the common room.

The noise from outside had apparently attracted some onlookers as the door was now completely open. As they slipped inside they pulled the latch closed so that they didn't have to see the disgusted look upon Snape's face or the somewhat pensive one that McGonagall favored. They entertained a few questions from their classmates, mostly about the fact that they were still outside. When it was found out that Weasley could have lost them points by not being friendly to a housemate several of his dorm mates had suggested that they go up and take care of the redhead. Harry had voted them down before they had all gone up to bed.

XoXo

The next day seemed to progress as normally as any day at a school for young witches and wizards. Neville was still having an issue with his wand and his confidence, owing mostly to the fact that several of their housemates had started to glare at them for their infraction the night before. While it was true that they had escaped any points being taken off it was still common knowledge that they were out after curfew and it could have lost the house the House Cup. Several seventh years had even stopped the pair of first years in the hall before class and threatened them with something fierce if they lost even a single point for them.

While Neville had shakily accepted the threats and the wands under their noses, Harry had simply raised an eyebrow and shrugged. He wasn't pressured to do much of anything and took the attitude of his dad when these situations came up. He would stay out of the way and observe as much as possible before having to step in and save the day; at least that was what his dad had always told him would happen, experience said otherwise.

Hermione of course was livid that they had been sneaking about at night. "Anything could have happened to you two." She had hissed during one of their meetings out in the courtyard during break. It was one of the few times that people from different houses were able to come together.

Harry gave a small shrug and a smile. "I can handle myself, always have. My dad seems to have an uncanny knack for finding danger wherever we go. Plus, I was coming back from talking to Hagrid."

Neville nodded slowly while attempting to not look into the furious glare of their friend. "I forgot the password and Weasley wouldn't tell it to me. I suspect that he had gotten some of the others on his side by saying that I was as good as a squib." He hung his head and much of Hermione's anger vanished as she patted her friend on the shoulder.

"You're worth at least twelve of him, Neville." She smiled a little as she favored the small boy with a gentle pat on the shoulder and the gentle smile went a long way to making him a little more comfortable.

Daphne however was another story. She was more upset that they had been caught and not about the fact that they were out of bounds at night. "You two really are Gryffindors. You could have done just about anything; instead you just sat there and got caught." She shook her head a little. "I guess my glorious influence hasn't rubbed off on you just yet."

Harry gave another shrug of indifference. "I didn't see the point in trying to run and hide. There are no classrooms on that level and the alcoves are all closed off. It would have been worse had they caught us later or worse, while we were running." He cut the conversation off by pulling a deck of muggle cards. "Now then, who's up for a deal?"

The friends passed the time playing a variety of muggle card games, soon joined by a small contingent of the study groups that had been formed around them. It was a fun time to be had, but soon enough dinner had ended and Harry and Neville were forced to then think about their detention that they were going to be serving that night with Hagrid. Snape had seemed gleeful that they were going into the forest and while McGonagall had been standing right there, she hadn't stuck up for them in the least. Filch was the one to come and collect them as they headed down towards Hagrid's hut situated on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

"It's a right shame that the Headmaster let the old punishments die out. Pain and hard work, those are the true teachers of discipline. Was in my day that you didn't get detention writing lines or scrubbing cauldron bottoms, it was thirty lashes and a stint on the rack for you." Filch was muttering as he shook his head.

"Must have been quite a trying time for you, Mister Filch." Harry reached up and patted the man on the elbow, but they had reached the hut and Hagrid was standing outside with his crossbow so the man couldn't rightly respond.

"There ye are, Filch, hurry up. Suppose you took the long way around just so you could give your speech about the old ways." Hagrid seemed dismissive about the old caretaker as he turned to address the two students before him. "Come on, ye rule breakers. We have some work to do." He had turned back towards the forest when a shout had caught his attention and he turned slowly back towards the castle.

In the dark gloom a figure could be making their way down the long sloping lawn of the grounds towards Hagrid's hut. At first it seemed that it was stooping, or at the very least quite wide, but as it started to come closer to the light of the lantern that Hagrid was holding it was shown to be two figures, one smaller than the other. When they were almost upon the small group it showed to be Professor Sinistra, the astronomy professor, leading Ronald Weasley by the arm down along the grounds. Harry shared a small look with Neville as it seemed that Ron was grinning from ear to ear.

"Have another one for you, Hagrid." The woman's voice was soft with a small accent that belied her heritage of the eastern lands. Her hair was dark and her skin slightly dusty like a well-made tan. She smiled lightly to the two boys already there and pushed Ron towards them. "Found him wandering alone the corridors, Headmaster suggested that he be made to come out here with the other two." She raised a small pencil thin eyebrow as she looked over the small group. "Not sure what you are planning to do with them, but we'll welcome them back come the morning." She gave a small nod to the others and then turned and headed back towards the castle.

Hagrid gave a large shrug as he hefted his crossbow up onto his shoulder and looked over the three students that he was now in charge of. "Well, I sup'ose 'e should get on with it 'hen." He pointed a large hand over their heads towards the forest. "There be 'omething killin unicorns in the forest. Need to find out who and bring in the perpies."

Ron, who up until now had been grinning, suddenly went pale. He had slid closer to Harry and seemed to be trying to now hide behind him, which was made all the more difficult by Neville being close by as well. Both boy seemed to look to Harry instinctively, but for two very different reasons. Ron was more out of hero worship, the belief that Harry could get him through any situation completely unharmed while Neville looked for the comfort of his friend. Harry was more than up to the task as he gently patted Neville on the shoulder before turning towards Hagrid.

"Hagrid, not to be suspicious, but shouldn't this be handled by the other professors?" At the large man's confused look, Harry continued. "We're three first years that can barely defend ourselves, much less attack some kind of unicorn munching creature."

Ron was nodding as all the color had drained from his face. When he spoke his voice was broken and high. "Plus I heard that there might be werewolves in there. I'm not going up against a werewolf all by myself."

Hagrid was left scratching his beard in thought before he shrugged. "We'll break into pairs. Weasley and Harry will stay behind us and take the branch of the path to the left, while Neville and I take the right." He didn't seem to give much mind to the whimpers of Neville and Ron or the eye roll of Harry as he turned and headed off towards the tree line.

The bright full moon shone down on the sloping lawns of the grounds. It wasn't much to see by for only a few meters in front of them, but with the lantern of Hagrid's it was enough to move across the grass. Approaching the trees that loomed up ahead of them there was a sense of foreboding. It was as if the trees sprung from the ground in a neat path line that almost seemed impregnable except for a small cut path that looped around just past Hagrid's cabin. If the others were suspicious of why this was, they didn't say anything, but Harry was keeping his eyes open.

Harry could feel the comforting warmth from both of his wrists as there rested a weapon, of sorts, on each. The larger one on his left gave him more comfort than the wooden one on his right. His eyes flicked from one side to the others as they seemed to break through the trees. Once under the canopy all light was extinguished save for the small bouncing lantern that Hagrid held aloft. Even the soft flickering light from that was not enough to push back the darkness more than a few feet in any direction. Not that it really mattered as the only thing that they could see at the moment were dark trunks of trees that leaned precariously out towards them.

They had been walking for almost ten minutes when they came to the fork in the path. The left branch was clearly the one that was least travelled as tangles of vines draped down over it and large knotted branches snarled around the path. The right, by comparison was trodden down with trees pushed back to make the path at least five feet wide even at the smallest points. Again, Harry had to roll his eyes as he took Ron by the arm and started to lead him down the left fork.

They hadn't gone very far before Hagrid's voice stopped them. "Send up sparks with yur wand ifen there be any trouble." He turned and headed down the other fork, Neville clinging close by. The small boy gave an audible gulp and tried to smile at Harry before they disappeared. Harry answered with a genuine smile of his own with thumbs up.

Ron had moved closer to Harry and was grasping towards his robes. "You'll protect me, right, mate? I mean, I'm sure that you've dealt with worse than werewolves in the past few years, right?"

Harry raised an eyebrow before he crossed his arms over his chest. "Ronald, I'm not exactly sure how to respond to that. I grew up in the muggle world." He didn't want the redhead to know just then that he had of course faced things much worse than a single werewolf; the fact that there were things worse out there than a lycanthrope was proof that Ronald Weasley didn't know much about the rest of the world, much less the universe.

"But…but those stories…" As Harry still looked mildly confused, Ron expounded. "The Great Adventures of Harry Potter." He waved his arms around as if saying that meant something, but Harry merely shrugged before starting down the path.

The path continued in the same vein, twisting and turning for another fifteen minutes. There didn't seem to be much down this way as the branches were already starting to make their path difficult as it snared against their robes and pulled against their hair. Harry picked his way easily over some of the fallen branches, using some of the reflexes from his tutors, while Ron Weasley was stumbling along, frequently crashing through the undergrowth. If there had been anything around them, Weasley's crashing had made enough noise to either scare away whatever it was, or draw them towards the pair of first years. It was another five minutes before the path seemed to almost disappear.

The path was so overgrown by this point that the only thing to do was to either divert into a small tree hollow on the left or to move backwards until they were able to turn around in the undergrowth. The hollow was a small indentation in the ground where it appeared a pond or a lake had once stood. Trees had grown up around it with their overarching roots entangled with one another, but leaving an opening about fifteen feet wide and twenty feet long. There were openings in the trees from what they could assume was water going from the path and then straight down to where the trees formed back up again leaving a small hole between the roots. They had just started to turn around when a hissing noise drew their eyes towards the lowest point of the hollow.

The ground seemed to ripple slightly before it peeled back and started to form up into a shadow like figure. It looked like a long black cloak that had peeled up to reveal something lying on the ground. The body of a dead unicorn had a large gash taken out of its neck with the silver blood leaking onto the ground into a small puddle around the head. The silver blood was also dripping from under the hood of the figure that was now standing over it. The silver seemed to outline the figures mouth and large fangs that were now dripping with the blood. It hissed again before it started to move towards the pair of first years, it seemed to slither across the ground however instead of walking.

Ron gave a terrified shriek and started to back away from the figure as it was advancing. He had moved behind Harry and seemed to be pushing the other young man towards it. "Do it, Harry, unleash your magical power." Harry briefly looked over his shoulder at Ron before raising his eyebrow a little.

"You're really an idiot, do you know that?" He turned back towards the figure and winced a little as he saw it approaching. He squinted his eyes a little as the hissing that the thing was making seemed to be getting louder as it approached.

"…._nice snack. When I get the stone, Potter, your life will be forfeit._" The figure lunged suddenly out of the darkness, but before it could get too close to them a large beast had leapt over their heads and slammed hard into it.

The beast was at least eight feet tall and with four hooves that were now tearing into the dark figure. The figure retreated for a moment before lunging at the creature and fastening his jaws around the neck. It was a terrible shriek from the creature that had leads Hagrid to the hollow on the other side of the path from where Harry and Ron stood. In a moment he had unleashed a string of arrows that sunk deep into the cloak of the shadow and seemed to cause it pause as it drew back from the other beast. It started off at Hagrid for only a moment before the cloak swept across the ground and the shadow wraith lifted off the ground and vanished among the tree trunks on the side of the hollow.

Neville had come in behind Hagrid holding the lantern. When the shadow had moved off he had rushed past Hagrid and towards Harry, wrapping his arms around the other boy. It was an unnatural display of affection from the shy and quiet Gryffindor, but considering what had just happened it wasn't unappreciated. "I was so scared when I heard the screams, who was it?"

Ron flushed a little as he remembered that he had screamed, but he thumped Harry on the back. "Good thinking mate, summoning a guardian spirit to help us out; wouldn't want to tear into it with your own powers." He gave a lopsided smile and a knowing nod.

Harry sighed as he rubbed against his temples slightly as he slipped past Ron and headed down into the hollow. Hagrid had knelt down next to the fallen creature and appeared to be putting a large bandage on the wound as well as talking to it. "Ron, if you used your brain for once in this entire year, you would see that it's a centaur." He indicated the fallen half-man, half-horse on the ground. "And no, I didn't summon him, he probably heard your screams and came to investigate."

The centaur had pulled himself partially up so that his four legs were tucked under him and he was sitting straight up. Even with him on the ground he still came above Harry and the other students by a good two feet. By the light of the lantern they could see that he had a palamino body with blonde hair covering his chest and part of his head. "Indeed, Harry Potter. There are many things that lurk in the shadows in this forest." He partially turned towards Hagrid. "Hagrid, my friend, I thank you for your kindly intervention on my behalf."

Hagrid waved the centaur's thanks aside as he finished up with the bandage and then patted him lightly on his flank. "'ou be allright, Firenze. I have to thank ye for your intervention with young Harry and Ronald." He nodded towards the gathered first years nearby.

Harry stepped forward and offered his hand to the centaur that the half-man creature bowed his head to and gently took it within his own larger one. "I am indebted to you, Centaur Firenze. You risked your life and your soul for a human's this night."

If the centaur was shocked at the pronouncement he didn't show it, instead he inclined his head slightly towards Harry and gave a smile. "You, young Master Potter, have nothing to be indebted to me for. Go with the stars and keep your eyes alight." He gave another short nod before trying to stand. He waved Hagrid off once more as he seemed to move to help, keeping his eyes on Harry. "You know what that thing was and more importantly what will come to pass should events continue in the vein they have started." Harry seemed to be the only one that seemed to understand at all what the centaur was saying, but in a moment he had shuffled up to his hooves and was disappearing deftly among the trees.

"Ruddy star gazers, the lot of them." Hagrid grumbled lightly as he hauled himself back up to his feet and dusted off his coat. "I dinna suppose we get much done now with all the racket."

Neville was shaking his head slightly. As he hadn't been there until towards the end, and mostly because he was with Hagrid the entire time, he didn't seem as shaken up as Ron was. "Hagrid, I think that you found your answer though. Whatever that thing was it was clearly feeding on the unicorn for whatever reason."

Ron was shaking his head. "Why would anyone want to do something so…so…..Slytherin?" He was shaking his head a little so missed the rather pointed looks in his direction.

Hagrid bent over to retrieve his crossbow from where he had dropped it in his hurry to help Firenze. "Unicorn blood is precious stuff, Ron. Can keep ya on the edge of death and keep ya alive indefinitely, but it's a cursed life." He shook his head. "Canna imagine anyone able to kill one though." He looked sadly at the fallen unicorn in the middle of the small hollow. "The spiders be getting it soon I suppose."

"Spiders?" Ron's face seemed to have gone even paler, if that was even possible, as he quickly started to look around as if something was going to come crashing through the trees at any moment. Instead of moving towards Hagrid though, he quickly moved closer to Harry.

Harry sighed as he moved away from Ron for a moment before he looked back towards Hagrid. "I don't suppose you can call off our detention as we now know for certain what's been killing the unicorns."

Hagrid nodded slowly as he looked up towards the moon and then around at the forest around them. He led them back to the path that he and Neville had taken to get into the hollow. It was a wide path with branches freshly snapped from Hagrid's large personage moving through them. "Come on then, take ye back up to the castle and report to Professor Dumbledore."

Harry snorted a little as he walked next to Neville. Ron kept trying to hold onto his arm as he twisted out of the way continuously. "What do you want to bet that we'll never hear about this again?" Neville snorted a little and then turned it into a cough when Hagrid turned around to see what they were laughing at.

Harry wasn't thinking about what had happened though; he was concentrating on the future. In the dim light of the forest from the full moon overhead and the small lantern that Hagrid was carrying up above them, Harry's eyes started to glow a faint golden. Things were falling into place as they should have as they were meant to, but there was still only one more piece of the puzzle to be considered. Voldemort now had everything that he needed to move against what was being hidden in the castle at that very moment; the unknown was what Harry was going to have to do in a matter of a few days to get his friends not to come with him when he went after the evil wizard. He fingered the cold metal against his left wrist and the soothing warmth against his right as it gave him some confidence about what was to come.


End file.
